Books: Non-Fiction

Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the 26th Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jonathan Becker and Yael Bromberg. 2025. 304 pages.
Uses the history of the 26th Amendment and the ongoing fight to promote and defend youth voting rights as a prism through which to teach the history of the struggle for the fundamental right to vote in the United States.

Time Periods: 2001–Present, 20th Century

Themes: Voting Rights

Levels: Adult, High School

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When colleges, students, and the broader community have organized, they have won victories and made great progress. This book shows you how that happened in the past, with important lessons for the present and future. — Heather Booth, founder, Midwest Academy, and 1964 Freedom Summer volunteer

Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the 26th Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses uses the history of the 26th Amendment and the ongoing fight to promote and defend youth voting rights as a prism through which to teach the history of the struggle for the fundamental right to vote in the United States. The book centers on case studies of four institutions — Tuskegee University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Bard College — which offer unique insights into the role of college communities in the fight for suffrage, and their contributions to the evolution of the right to vote. [Adapted from publishers’ description.]