The Diggers were a radical activist group founded by three street performers, Emmett Grogan, Peter Berg and Peter Cohon, that existed in San Francisco from 1966-1968 at the height of the Summer of Love countercultural movement. They performed street theater and organized art happenings (they were responsible, for example, for organizing free music concerts headlining groups like The Grateful Dead[1], Janis Joplin[2] and Jefferson Airplane[3]. The Diggers took their name from the English Diggers (1649-1650), a group of religious and political English dissidents that got their name from unsuccessfully attempting to farm on private land.
The San Francisco Diggers were originally an anonymous group of intellectuals pushing a platform for an anti-capitalist society free from buying, selling and owning private property. But they changed to a charitable organization during the Summer of Love[3A] as they tried to apply their philosophy to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury at a time when the area was overridden with young runaways who could not take care of themselves. The Diggers provided a free store (it is still not completely understood how the store was funded), free medical care with volunteers from UCSF Medical School[4], free transportation and temporary housing. At 4:00 every afternoon The Diggers provided free food in the Pan Handle of Golden Gate Park[5]. They popularized whole wheat bread, which was baked in coffee cans in the basement of Episcopal All Saints Church at 1350 Waller. Time Magazine called The Diggers “a band of hippie do-gooders”.
In 1967 The Diggers organized The Invisible Circus, advertised as a “72-hour Environmental Community Happening”. Starting on a Friday night, the actors issued bulletins and news flashes out of an improvised media office in the basement of Glide Memorial Church[6] while various lectures on anti-capitalism were held throughout the building. The event only lasted 36 hours but was attended by more than 5,000 people.
Ultimately, the organization could not sustain itself, and the original members quietly moved on to other incredible careers. In 1972 Emmett Grogan (1942-1978) wrote an autobiography called Ringolevio, a Life Played for Keeps, considered by many to be the most authentic account of San Francisco’s countercultural movement. In 1976 he wrote the crime novel Final Score. Grogan died in 1978 at the age of 35 from a heroin overdose. Bob Dylan would dedicate his album Street Legal to Grogan.
Peter Berg (1937-2011) became an environmental activist, advocating the concept of bioregionalism, a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural and economic systems are more sustainable if countries were organized around naturally defined areas.
Peter Cohon (1941-) changed his name to Peter Coyote and has become a well known Hollywood actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theater, television and audiobooks. His more successful movies include A Walk to Remember, ET, The Jagged Edge, Outrageous Fortunes and Erin Brockovich.
The Diggers are credited for the phrases “Do your own thing” and “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”[7]
The Diggers were a radical activist group founded by three street performers, Emmett Grogan, Peter Berg and Peter Cohon, that existed in San Francisco from 1966-1968 at the height of the Summer of Love countercultural movement. They performed street theater and organized art happenings (they were responsible, for example, for organizing free music concerts headlining groups like The Grateful Dead[1], Janis Joplin[2] and Jefferson Airplane[3]. The Diggers took their name from the English Diggers (1649-1650), a group of religious and political English dissidents that got their name from unsuccessfully attempting to farm on private land.
[1] The Grateful Dead: story coming August 9th
[2] Janis Joplin: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5072
[3] Jefferson Airplane: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3744
[3A] The Summer of Love: story coming January 14th[4] University of California San Francisco: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4712
[4] University of California San Francisco: story coming April 16th
[5] Golden Gate Park: story coming April 4th
[6] Glide Memorial Church: story coming September 22nd
[7] For more information the Diggers, visit The Digger Archives at www.diggers.org
