'Our Leaders Are Us': Youth Activism in Social Movements Project

摘要

In this article, we describe the development and implementation of a project, "Our Leaders Are Us: Youth Activism in Social Movements", that we undertook with New York City high school students exploring events leading up to and following the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown. As part of a 50th anniversary celebration of the Brown decision, we designed a series of three workshops that sought to extend urban students' knowledge of Brown, segregation, and activism and to examine the roles of young people in critical civil rights campaigns. In addition, we discussed with students the ways in which young people can be involved in contemporary social movements and the strategies they can use to effect what they perceive to be needed changes in their lives. Along with the researchers' extensive field notes, the participating students completed questionnaires throughout the project so that their understanding of Brown and related issues could be documented. Using our findings, we suggest ways that educators can develop and implement similar programs for use in schools.