Youth in the Movements: High School Student Activism in Twentieth-Century America

Youth in the Movements masterfully extends our understanding of high school student activism by expanding traditional regional, racial, and ethnic silos. It offers an unparalleled look into the diverse political aims and motivations that have long shaped our democracy. — Dionne Danns, author of Crossing Segregated Boundaries: Remembering Chicago School Desegregation

Youth in the Movements: High School Student Activism in Twentieth-Century America documents the history of the rise of high school and youth activism in the United States since the Second World War. Spaces within high schools and the adults at them provided support or inspiration — both negative and positive — for youth engaged in protest, organizing, and activism.

Through rich research of archival sources and oral histories, contributors reveal new perspectives on high school and youth activism in the United States. Viewed through the eyes of high school-aged youth around the United States — in familiar locations such as Boston, New York City, and Detroit, as well as less familiar locales in the historiography, such as Salt Lake City and the Navajo Reservation — we extend our understanding of high school and how it has been experienced by youth activists in the post-World War II period. [Adapted from publishers’ description.]

ISBN: 9781978843707 | Rutgers University Press