Youth in the Movements documents the history of the rise of American 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 American high school and youth activism. 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. 

Dara Walker an assistant professor of African American studies, history, and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at the Pennsylvania State University. 

Alexander D. Hyres is an assistant professor in the history of United States education at the University of Utah. He is the author of Protest and Pedagogy: Charlottesville's Black Freedom Struggle and the Making of the American High School and his writing has appeared in the Journal of African American History, Journal of the History of Child and Youth, Teachers College Record, and The Washington Post.

Jon N. Hale is a professor of education and educational history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  He has published serval books, including the award-winning book, The Freedom Schools. Hale’s research is featured in outlets including TIME, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. 

Introduction 

DARA WALKER, ALEXANDER D. HYRES, AND JON N. HALE

Part I Self-Determination, Transnationalism, and the Fight for Educational Opportunity

1 “We Have to Credit the Young People”: Protesting Students and the Navajo Struggle for Educational Self-Determination, 1971–1973 

CARLOS L . CANTÚ

2 “The Question of Puerto Rican Independence is Hot Among Youth Right Now”: Transnational-Colonial High School Activism in Postwar New York City, 1948–1975

LAUREN  LEFTY

3 Understanding the Black Student United Front and Their Push for Black Studies: The Detroit Public Schools During the Black Power Era 

DAVID WALTON

Part II Urban Activism, School Desegregation, and the Rise of the School-to- Prison Nexus

4 From “Stay-Outs” to Pushouts: Black Student Activism in Boston, 1963–1979 

MATTHEW KAUTZ

5 “Give Us an Opportunity to Compete”: Black Student Activism and Police Repression at a Desegregating New Orleans High School 

WALTER STERN

6 “This Is A Backlash Against the Gay Community”: Race, Sexuality, Religion, and the Contours of School Reform in Salt Lake City, Utah 

NICOLE WILSON STEFFES, SONNY PARTOLA, MAEVE  WALL, AND ALEXANDER  D. HYRES

Part III Civil Rights, Gender Equality, and Wartime Activism in the United States

7 The “Backbone and Organizers”: High School Students in the Anti-Vietnam War Movement 

AARON G. FOUNTAIN, JR.

8 “Anything You Want to Be”: Coalitions and Conflicts Between Adult and Teenage Second Wave Feminists 

KERA LOVELL

9 “It’s People Like You We Need in the White House”: Anti-Civil Rights Youth, George Wallace, and 1960s Campaign Activism 

SUSAN ECKELMANN

10 A Part, Yet Apart from MLK: Mexican Americans, Civil Rights, and the Making of a Movement in the Era of LBJ 

DARIUS VÍCTOR ECHEVERRÍA

Conclusion 

DARA WALKER, ALEXANDER D. HYRES, AND JON N. HALE

Acknowledgments

Notes on Contributors 

Index