KIDS ON THE MARCH

Rights are the evidence of hard-fought battles, and even the youngest among us have served on the battlefield.

This inspiring collection documents youths’ roles in social change movements, beginning with the 1903 March of the Mill Children, in which child laborers marched to change hazardous working conditions in factories, and ending in 2020 with youth protestors leading and organizing marches to protest the deaths of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality. Topically diverse, the collection highlights the struggle for school integration in the 1950s; protests against the Vietnam War; the racist school conditions faced by Chicanx students in East Los Angeles and the 1968 student walkout; and activism for stricter gun laws led by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Nuclear disarmament and climate change are also among the subjects covered. Young people are the focus of this inspiring overview that expresses themes of determination, change, and hope. Though some movements resulted in immediate change and others are part of yearslong efforts, readers will be inspired by the advocacy, leadership, and determination of the young change agents. The stories are accompanied by photos and primary source documents, breathing life into the subjects and showing a clear connecting thread between young people of different generations. A final section offers readers practical tips for engaging in effective social change.

Readers will lose themselves in this work and emerge energized.