Young Activists

by Gael Graham and D. Kurt Graham

Book Overview

The traumas and controversies of the 1960s--the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the pervasive antiauthoritarian spirit so evident on college campuses--infiltrated American public high schools. Students challenging their relegation to the world of children demanded the right to express their political views and to have a voice in decisions about their education. Adopting the activist tactics of the times, they organized strikes and demonstrations,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875803512
• ISBN13: 9780875803517
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Different Look at the 1960s

Gael Graham's book, "Young Activists" is a look back at the social unrest and reform movements of the 1960s. The book specifically examines high schools in America and how they were shaped by these turbulent times. Graham also explores how students of this era actively helped further the change. The Civil Rights Movement and the protest against the Vietnam War produced effects that washed though all facets of society. High schools were no exception. As Graham says on page 197, "Some schools felt merely a ripple, and others were nearly swamped by tidal waves of activism and dissent, but few public high schools were completely untouched by the tumult of the times." Graham proposes many ideas on why high schools became agents of change. By 1960, for example, school attendance had become mandatory for adolescents of all classes and races. Through its own laws, the government created a melting pot where the nation's young could learn and, if they chose, organize. Advice manuals for families such as those written by Dr. Benjamin Spock encouraged "permissive parenting" or greater sensitivity to children's needs and greater explanations of rules and boundaries. Children raised in this manner understood the need for rules, but expected the rules to be reasonable and not completely rigid. Many high school administrations did not share this point of view, setting up potential conflicts. Beginning in the 1950s, television competed with schools as sources of education and exposed children to national events. In regard to the Vietnam War, children did not receive the same level of pro-war propaganda as World War I or World War II, and the government did not undertake the same level of mobilization. This was due in part to keep the war out of the news headlines to avoid an escalation to a nuclear conflict. It was also due in part to Lyndon Johnson's wish to spend tax dollars on his Great Society Programs. Racial segregation and integration are major topics of the book. Graham documents the reaction of students to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., "white flight" from integrated schools, black militancy or "Black Power," "Brown Power," and "blowouts" or student boycotts. In addition to racial issues, the book covers dress codes and the high school underground press. The impact of the courts and legislation on high schools is given proper consideration. Some of the cases Graham discusses are "Brown v. Board of Education," Title VII of the Education Act (aided bilingual education), "Crossen v. Fatsi" (a ruling against dress codes), "Tinker v. Des Moines (an ambivalent ruling on black arm bands being worn in the schools), and "Goss v. Lopez" (established minimum rights for a student facing long term suspension). The role of adults in these new settings is documented with excellent insight and detail. Graham divides the adults into the "hawks and doves" category commonly used to classify those who were for or against the Vietnam War. Hawks were hard-l