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“In The Young Crusaders, V. P. Franklin reveals that the entire history of civil rights protest has depended in large measure on activism by children and teenagers…the book is stunning in its breadth and proves the undeniable impact and courage of these youthful activists. Their voices and stories resonate powerfully today, and should energize and inspire a new generation of young activists in their fight for reparations and equality”
—Mary Frances Berry, author of History Teaches Us to Resist: How Progressive Movements Have Succeeded in Challenging Times
“Few make history jump off the pages like V. P. Franklin, one of the field’s most prominent and thoughtful historians. The Young Crusaders will stand as the definitive untold history of young people getting into ‘good trouble’ for racial justice…revelatory as well as a joy to read, it is a profound reflection on the power of young crusaders to change the world.”
—Bettina L. Love, author of We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
For the first time, award-winning historian V. P. Franklin tells the UNTOLD STORY OF THE young people WHO GALVANIZED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Some of the most iconic images of the Civil Rights Movement are those of young people engaged in social activism: the Little Rock Nine being escorted into Central High School in 1957 by soldiers, or children and teenagers being attacked in 1963 by police in Birmingham with dogs and water hoses. While the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee have been well chronicled, the crucial roles of children and teens are now placed at the forefront in The Young Crusaders.
V.P. Franklin delivers a thorough reexamination of the efforts of children and teenagers to challenge legal segregation, employment discrimination, educational inequality, and racialized violence beginning in the 1930s. His groundbreaking narratives draw on examples in nearly 50 cities and 15 states, from Alabama to Wisconsin. Franklin details the student activism behind the successful civil rights campaigns that brought about the end of Jim Crow practices throughout the nation.
The largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history was not the famous “March on Washington” in August 1963, 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 Freedom Schools. Multiracial community groups organized the school boycotts in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and other cities, and African American, Puerto Rican, and white students participated, calling for the desegregation of public and private education and public accommodations. In addition, children and teenagers mounted their own walkouts, marches, and civil rights demonstrations demanding “Freedom Now.”
Franklin’s account of the courageous actions of these unheralded young people fundamentally transforms how we understand the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and serves as a model for twenty-first-century campaigns for reparations and “reparatory justice” by youth-oriented protest movements such as Black Lives Matter, March for Our Lives, the Climate Strikes, and the Sunrise Movement.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Children and Teenagers: Foot Soldiers for Democracy
PART I: Freedom on Their Minds
Chapter 1: Youth and Civil Rights Activism Before the Brown Decision
Chapter 2: Grace Under Pressure: Children, Teenagers, and School Desegregation
Chapter 3: High School Students and Nonviolent Direct-Action Protests
Chapter 4: The Birmingham Children’s Crusade and Southern Student Activism
PART II: The Quality Integrated Education Movement
Chapter 5: Freedom Day Boycotts: Chicago, Boston, and New York City
Chapter 6: “Every Child a Freedom Soldier”: Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Mississippi
PART III: From Civil Rights to Black Power
Chapter 7: Police Brutality, Black Self-Defense, and Student Activism
Chapter 8: Civil Rights, Black Power, and Increasing Youth Militancy
Epilogue
“Keep Stirring Up ‘Good Trouble’”
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Reviews
“Franklin successfully fills in the gaps in knowledge regarding the many young African Americans across the country who stood up to racism, hatred, police oppression, and physical violence to make a difference and allows them, in many cases, to tell their story in their own voices. Franklin showcases the immense power, resilience, and unbreakable spirit shown by young activists, some as young as 6 years old…. The book, which includes eight pages of black-and-white photos and notes that offer an outstanding bibliography, celebrates the young people who became activists and changed the country for getting into ‘good trouble,’ as the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis put it. While history is important, this message is what makes the book memorable, and it’s the element that brings it to the present and strongly ties it to the Black Lives Matter movement."
—San Francisco Chronicle Datebook
“A lively history of the teenagers and young adults who fought some of the hardest battles of the civil rights movement…. A compelling narrative that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the struggle for social justice.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Advance Praise for The Young Crusaders
“Filling a void in our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement, V. P. Franklin presents the remarkable and largely untold story of young peoples’ central role in the 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, National Book Award winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of How to Be and Antiracist
“V. P. Franklin reveals that the entire history of civil rights protest has depended in large measure on activism by children and teenagers. Covering events in nearly fifty cities, the book is stunning in its breadth and proves the undeniable impact and courage of these youthful activists. Their voices and stories resonate powerfully today, and should energize and inspire a new generation of young activists in their fight for reparations and equality.”
—Mary Frances Berry, author of History Teaches Us to Resist: How Progressive Movements Have Succeeded in Challenging Times
“Few make history jump off the pages like V. P. Franklin… The Young Crusaders will stand as the definitive untold history of young people getting into ‘good trouble’ for racial justice… Both revelatory as well as a joy to read, it is a profound reflection on the power of young crusaders to change the world.”
—Bettina L. Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
“Through meticulous research and analysis, V. P. Franklin presents the voices of these children and teenagers to document how they toppled legalized racial oppression. For the first time, their revelatory and powerful stories are articulated here in The Young Crusaders.”
—Aldon D. Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change
“V. P. Franklin’s The Young Crusaders is a revelation, profoundly broadening our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and the essential role of Black youth in revolutionary movements of the past and today. It is a must-read—brilliantly conceived and researched, beautifully written, and deeply moving.”
—Brenda E. Stevenson, author of The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Race, Gender, and the LA Riots