Emmett Grogan (born Eugene Leo Grogan, November 28, 1942 – April 6, 1978) was a founder of the

Diggers The Diggers were a group of religious and political dissidents in England, associated with a political ideology and programme resembling what would later be called agrarian socialism.; ; ; Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard (Digger), Will ...

, a radical community-action group of

Improvisational Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

actors in the

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called the Haight and the Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the countercultu ...

district of San Francisco. The Diggers took their name from the English

(1649–1650), a radical movement opposed to

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

, the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

Biography

Grogan's distrust of the mainstream media made it difficult for reporters to acquire more than a few details of his life. He was born on November 28, 1942, as Eugene Leo Grogan into an Irish-American family in the

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base an ...

neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. According to his publisher,

New York Review Books New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, ...

, "Grogan grew up on New York City’s mean streets, getting hooked on heroin before he was in his teens, kicking the habit and winning a scholarship to a swanky Manhattan private school, pursuing a highly profitable sideline as a

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

burglar, then skipping town to enjoy the ''dolce vita'' in Italy." After high school, he attended Duke University for one year before moving to San Francisco. The San Francisco Diggers evolved out of two radical traditions that thrived in the Bay Area in the mid-1960s: the bohemian/underground art/theater scene, and the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

. The Diggers combined

street theatre Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves, college or universi ...

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

, and art

happenings A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" in t ...

in their social agenda of creating a Free City. Their most characteristic activities were distributing free food ("Free because it's yours!") every day in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

, and distributing "surplus energy" at a series of Free Stores, where everything in the store was free. The Diggers coined various slogans that became part of the counterculture and even the larger society, such as, "Do your own thing," and "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Grogan's 1972 autobiography ''Ringolevio, a Life Played for Keeps'', is regarded by some as the best and only authentic book written about the

underground culture Underground culture, or simply underground, is a term to describe various alternative cultures which either consider themselves different from the mainstream of society and culture, or are considered so by others. The word "underground" is used ...

of the 1960s. In the book, Grogan refers to himself by the alias Kenny Wisdom. In his 1990 introduction to ''Ringolevio'',

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and narrator of films, theater, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films, such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' C ...

, another founding member of the Diggers, states that Grogan's choice of the alias is "no accident", as the protagonist stood in for the young Grogan's "undirected self". Grogan was also the author of ''Final Score,'' a crime novel published in 1976.

Criticism of counterculture

Grogan shunned media attention and became increasingly suspicious of those who sought publicity. In ''Ringolevio'', Grogan discussed the 1967

Human Be-In The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture an ...

, criticizing counterculture luminaries

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

Jerry Rubin Jerry Clyde Rubin (July 14, 1938 – November 28, 1994) was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and early 1970s. Despite being known for holding radical views when he was a political activist, h ...

, and especially

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponent of the ...

. Grogan thought the HIP (Haight Independent Proprietors) merchants, led by Ron and Jay Thelin, who had sponsored events like the Human Be-In, were the primary beneficiaries of the events: "The HIP merchants were astounded by their own triumph by promoting such a large market for their wares. They became the Western world's taste makers overnight..." He objected to the "

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

" enticing of young people to the Haight-Ashbury to experience hippie life, noting that an influx of residents would cause an "immigration crisis" and the kids who came expecting an already-formed Utopia would end up living a desperate hand-to-mouth existence on the streets. He also decried the HIP merchants' "HIP Job Co-Op," revealing that much of the work they offered was

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a cramped workplace with very poor and/or illegal working conditions, including little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting and ventilation, or uncomfortably or dangerously high or low temperat ...

labor. He pointed out that unskilled and clerical jobs would be taken away from poor residents who depended on such work to survive.

Death

On April 6, 1978, 35-year-old Grogan was found dead on a

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

train on the F train in Coney Island; he had suffered a heart attack. Close friend and Digger co-founder

stated in his foreword to Grogan's autobiography ''Ringolevio'' that his death was due to a heroin overdose.

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

dedicated his 1978 album '' Street Legal'' to Grogan.

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. He wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four books of poetry. Brautigan's work has been publi ...

dedicated his poem "Death Is a Beautiful Car Parked Only" to Grogan."Information about Emmett Grogan,"
The Richard Brautigan Archives. Accessed 2016 Nov. 15.

Personal life

Grogan was married to the French-Canadian actress ; they had one son.

References

External links