Emmett Grogan was one of the founders of the Diggers in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California who inspired Abbie Hoffman to undertake a similar venture on the Lower East Side of New York City during the mid-1960s. The Diggers were a hippie group that scrounged for and provided food and other services. They took their name from the Diggers of 17th Century England who were a radical movement opposed feudalism, the Church of England and the British Crown. The Diggers of the 1960s can be compared with the present-day Food Not Bombs who feed homeless youth. Grogan's penchant for personal myth making and distrust of the mainstream media resulted in few details of his life being reliably recorded. His 1972 autobiography, Ringolevio (A life played for keeps), is filled with embellishments and large portions of his pre-Digger life appear to be outright fabrications. This flexibility with the truth was part of Grogan's larger social and political analysis and was meant to further Digger ideals.
References
- Ringolevio (A life played for keeps), by Grogan, Emmett. - Little Brown & Company, 1972. Library of Congress No.78-186970. (The story of the revival of the Diggers in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California and New York during the mid-1960s.
- Emmett Grogan sang back-up with Ramblin' Jack Elliott on Mr. Tambourine Man written by Bob Dylan. Dylan also dedicated his 1978 album "Street Legal" to Grogan.
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