Weather Underground

(noun)

An American radical left organization that was first organized in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); their goal was to create a clandestine revolutionary party for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

Related Terms

  • Students for a Democratic Society
  • New Left

Examples of Weather Underground in the following topics:

  • Student Rebellions and the New Left

    • Along with adherents known as the New Communist Movement, some extremist factions also emerged, such as the Weather Underground Organization.
  • Theatre and Novels

    • The counterculture of the 1960s gave rise to new forms of media such as underground newspapers, literature, theater, and cinema.
    • In mid-1966, the cooperative Underground Press Syndicate (UPS) was formed.
    • A UPS roster published in November 1966 listed 14 underground papers, 11 of them in the United States.
    • There also existed an underground press network within the U.S. military.
    • The GI underground press produced a few hundred titles during the Vietnam War.
  • The Underground Railroad

    • The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by nineteenth-century slaves to escape to free states and Canada.
    • The escape network of the Underground Railroad was not literally underground or a railroad.
    • It was figuratively "underground" in the sense of being a covert form of resistance.
    • Estimates vary widely, but at least 30,000 slaves, and potentially more than 100,000, escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
    • A worker on the Underground Railroad, Tubman made 13 trips to the South, helping to free more than 70 people.
  • Slavery and Liberty

    • The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by black slaves to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause.
    • The escape network was not literally underground nor a railroad, but consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, safe houses, and assistance provided by abolitionist sympathizers.
    • However, the severity of this measure led to gross abuses and defeated its purpose; the number of abolitionists increased, the operations of the Underground Railroad became more efficient, and refugees from slavery continued to flee toward the North.
    • Many slaves fled through the Underground Railroad, seeking freedom in the North.
  • Art and Music

    • Bands such as The Velvet Underground came out of this underground music scene and were predominantly centered at artist Andy Warhol's legendary Factory.
    • The Velvet Underground supplied the music for the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a series of multi-media events staged by Warhol and his collaborators in 1966 and 1967.
    • The Velvet Underground's lyrics were considered risque for the era because they discussed sexual fetishism, transgender identities, and the use of drugs.
  • Early American Slavery

    • Depending on the weather, time of year, current strength, and destinations, it could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to make it from Africa to an American port, and many slaves died along the way.
    • In the lower South, from the Carolinas to Georgia, slaves tended to work year-round as the weather allowed multiple harvests.
    • Slowly, however, slave owners realized that the weather and soil from the Carolinas to Georgia allowed year-round farming, so slave owners moved their slaves to the American South.
  • Mining on the Comstock Lode

    • The ore was first extracted through surface diggings, but these were quickly exhausted and miners had to tunnel underground to reach ore bodies.
  • The Middle Passage

    • The duration of the transatlantic voyage varied widely, from one to six months depending on weather conditions.
    • When bad weather further inconvenienced the voyage, the Zong's captain decided to drown the slave cargo at sea, so the owners could collect insurance on the cargo.
  • The French Empire

    • Cartier attempted to create the first permanent European settlement in North America at Cap-Rouge (Quebec City) in 1541 with 400 settlers, but the settlement was abandoned the next year after bad weather and native attacks.
    • From the middle of the 15th century forward, France tried to establish several colonies throughout North America that failed due to weather, disease, or conflict with other European powers.
  • Political Participation and Party Loyalty

    • The side that lost was usually surprised, and tended to ascribe defeat to preternatural factors, such as bad weather or treachery.
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