Throughout the early 1960s, college students who were against the policies of segregation in Southern United States would travel to the south. They took part in sit-ins, register African Americans to vote, demonstrate, march, and other activism. More and more people were unhappy about the Vietnam War and the riots. During this time, San Francisco was becoming a center for younger people who liked to experiment with drugs, and it was also a center for the music scene. From the idea of the 'sit-in', they got the idea to have a 'Human Be-In' in early January to get people's minds off politics and the war.