60 of The Most Iconic Moments of the 1960s

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll defined the 1960s. But the decade was also a time of pivotal change — politically, socially and technologically. Check out 60 of the most iconic moments of the decade.

1. The ‘Greensboro Four.’ On February 1, 1960, four African-American college students made history just by sitting down at a whites-only lunch counter at a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. Service never came for the “Greensboro Four,” as they came to be known, and their peaceful demonstration drew national attention and sparked more “sit-ins” in Southern cities.

African Americans stage sit down at Woolworth Store’s lunch counter, in which service was refused to them. (Photo by Donald Uhrbrock//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

2. Elvis discharged from the military. Elvis Presley’s musical heyday was in the 1950s, but he remained a major star in the 1960s. Here, Presley, 25, is pictured with his future wife, Priscilla, shortly before his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1960. Presley served two years in the Army.

Elvis and Priscilla leave the house he and his family occupied in Bad Nauheim, Germany, March 1960.

3. Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. Wounded people in South Africa’s Sharpeville township lie in the street on March 21, 1960, after police opened fire on black demonstrators marching against the country’s segregation system known as apartheid. At least 180 black Africans, most of them women and children, were injured and 69 were killed in the Sharpeville massacre that signaled the start of armed resistance against apartheid.

Wounded people lie in the street, 21 March 1960 in Sharpeville, near Vereeniging, where at least 180 black Africans, most of them women and children, were injured and 69 killed, when South African police opened fire on black protestors. (Photo credit should read OFF/AFP/Getty Images)

4. The laser is born. Theodore Maiman pours liquid nitrogen into a cooling unit around one of the first experimental lasers in his laboratory in Santa Monica, California. Maiman’s ruby laser, created on May 16, 1960, is considered to be one of the top technological achievements of the 20th century. It paved the way for fiber-optic communications, CDs, DVDs and sight-restoring surgery.

Scientist and inventor of the laser Dr. Theodore Maiman pours liquid nitrogen into a cooling unit around one of the first experimental lasers in his laboratory in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 9, 1964. (AP Photo)

5. FDA approves birth-control pill. On June 23, 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid, the first birth-control pill for women.