(The Rick Griffin Font with Photoshop character effect)
Rick Griffin, Gathering of the Tribes (1967)
Griffin brings together his love for Native American culture, Beat poets, rock music, and the new gurus for the psychedelic movement in 1967. The concept of the “Human Be-in” derives from the “Sit-in” form of protest in the Civil Rights movement that took place in the same decade. The phrase “human be-in” also conjures up the idea of “human being,” thereby advertiing the event an inclusive “happening” for all humanity.
The lightning bolts from Heaven may be a prefiguring of Griffin’s later transformation into a born-again Christian.
(Click the image for a lightbox view)
Press release article for the Human Be-in (1967)
Human Be-In, Golden Gate Park Polo Grounds, 1967
