The Untold Story of the Children and Teenagers Who Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement
Long before Black Lives Matter, the largest civil rights demonstration in United States history was not the August 1963 March on Washington, but the system-wide school boycott in New York City on February 3, 1964, when more than 360,000 elementary and secondary school students went on strike and thousands attended the “freedom schools” opened throughout the city. The Young Crusaders by renowned historian V. P. Franklin tells the remarkable story of the young activists who organized and led the largest civil-rights protests of the twentieth century.
“Filling a void in our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement…The Young Crusaders reveals the unheralded work of children and teens, showcasing the incredible power of youth activism for our time, for all time.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times best-selling author of How to Be an Antiracist
On Sale NOW!
An authoritative history of the overlooked youth activists who spearheaded the largest protests of the Civil Rights Movement and set the blueprint for future generations to follow
In recent years, children and teenagers have taken center stage in 21st-century protests and demonstrations aimed at arresting the deterioration in our physical environment and ending the unnecessary slaughter associated with gun violence. Yet decades earlier, young people often took the lead in challenging the disparities in educational resources between rich and poor, black and white public schools; opposing Jim Crow practices in public accommodations; and protesting the unprovoked violence carried out by law enforcement officials. When civil rights organizers came to town to recruit participants in nonviolent direct-action campaigns to challenge racially discriminatory practices, children and teenagers were often the first ones to show up on the picket lines in large numbers, and oftentimes they were attacked, brutalized, and arrested by the police. The Young Crusaders by V. P. Franklin is the first book to tell their story.
About V. P. Franklin
V. P. Franklin is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and Education at the University of California, Riverside. From 2001–2018, he was the editor of The Journal of African American History, the leading scholarly publication on African American life and history, and he has also served on the editorial boards of The Journal of Negro History, The Journal of American History, The Black Scholar, History of Education Quarterly, and Paedagogica Historica. Dr. Franklin has published more than 70 scholarly articles and several books on African American history and education, and he has received numerous fellowships, grants, and awards for his work. Decades in the making, The Young Crusaders is the culmination of a career.
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I published THE YOUNG CRUSADERS to provide models for the new generation for social justice campaigns. But how can… https://t.co/hZkgX2T8zw -
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After the 1960 sit-ins began, few southern department stores desegregated so Medgar Evers and others called for the… https://t.co/VE0ZroRo5y
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