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The Vietnam War, class inequality, black liberation, and women's struggles—against this backdrop of social upheaval, a rebellious counterculture produced a vibrant underground newspaper scene. In four short years, from 1965 to 1969, the underground press grew from five small newspapers in as many cities in the United States to over five hundred newspapers—with millions of readers—all over the world. Completely circumventing (and subverting) establishment media by utilizing its own news service and freely sharing content among the papers, the underground press at its height became the unifying institution for the alternative culture of the 1960s and 1970s. It also allowed for all sorts of intriguing and compelling art, design, and writing on its pages.
Interference Archive is pleased to host the exhibition Rebel Newsprint: The 1960s' Underground Press, curated by Sean Stewart, editor of On the Ground: An Illustrated Anecdotal History of the Sixties Underground Press in the U.S. (PM Press, 2011). The show features original copies from Sean's growing collection of underground newspapers, such as Basta Ya, Berkeley Barb, Berkeley Tribe, Chicago Seed, Helix, It Ain't Me Babe, Los Angeles Free Press, Osawatomie, Rat Subterranean News, San Francisco Express Times, San Francisco Oracle, Screw: The Sex Review, Black Panther, East Village Other, and Realist, and related artifacts to illustrate the process, graphic sensibilities, historical context, and debates shaping these periodicals.
Sean Stewart grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and is the former owner of Babylon Falling, a bookstore and gallery in San Francisco. He now lives in Brooklyn.
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