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So lucky & excited to be learning abt the role of teenagers in the Civil Rights Movement from @JeanneTheoharis, historian & author & editor of many books, in conversation w/ my friend, fellow-teacher, activist, & @RethinkSchools editor, @JessedHagopian. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/peoples-historians-online-april
To kick things off, Jesse asks about the “master narrative” of the CRM — that it was the product of great men — which not only erases many foundational women & its *collective* nature, but also obscures the vital role played by young people.
Theoharis says the master narrative misses, at so many key junctures, how young people push the movement forward, often against the wishes of the adults in their lives. One of those key junctures: Brown v. Board of Education.
Theoharis tells the story of Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old high school junior who organized her classmates at the all-Black Robert Russa Moton HS in Prince Edward County, VA. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/obituaries/barbara-johns-overlooked.html
Students refused to go to class until the school’s overcrowding (2x as many Ss than the school was built for) & poor conditions (classes were being held in school buses; there was no gym or cafeteria) were addressed.
Johns reached out to the NAACP to help with a legal effort to accompany the strike. One of the NAACP lawyers recalled, “Their morale was so high that we didn’t have the heart to say no.”
Though they lost their case in district court, they appealed to the Supreme Court & theirs became one of the 5 cases making up the Brown v. Board of Education decision. As Theoharis writes, “These students had blazed the way & ultimately brought the adults along with them.”
Now Theoharis is talking about Claudette Colvin — some haven't heard of her at all, & those who have, often miss or get wrong, key moments in her story.
“Our leaders is just we, ourselves.” — Claudette Colvin
(quoted in A More Beautiful and Terrible History, by Jeanne Theoharis)
(quoted in A More Beautiful and Terrible History, by Jeanne Theoharis)
. @JeanneTheoharis’s chapter on high school student activism in her book, A More Beautiful and Terrible History: the Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History, is a must-read. http://www.beacon.org/A-More-Beautiful-and-Terrible-History-P1333.aspx
So many great stories — for the classroom, for the streets, for our time. https://twitter.com/LadyOfSardines/status/998353202159407104?s=20
Theoharis talks a lot about how these student activists (who were TEENAGERS!) were not often celebrated by the adults in their lives — viewed as too confrontational, too disruptive.
One clear lesson for we educators: do we want to align ourselves with those who tried to “discipline & control” youth militancy or with those (Baker, Parks) who rejoiced in it?
Jesse asks about how CRM history is misused & weaponized to critique current activists, especially #BlackLivesMatter 
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For example, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer criticized protests in Baltimore as not being "in the tradition of MLK." & Atlanta's mayor admonished protesters: "Dr. King would never take a freeway."
Theoharis focuses on school walkouts — the biggest of course being in NYC — but happening elsewhere too. The issues compelling these teenagers to act? Overcrowding, dress codes, racist curricula, lack of resources, unequal facilities, criminalization of Black & Chicano youth...
Listening to Theoharis talk about the struggle for educational justice led by high school activists, it is hard to miss the connections to this moment of pandemic, when the school system, riddled with all its racism & inequality, has moved online.
What I keep wondering: What does a school walk out look like right now?
Now we are learning from some student activists! Jeanne introduces a member of NYC's Teens Take Charge, Karma Selsey. https://www.teenstakecharge.com/
She talks about this campaign to pressure the mayor to provide students access to enrichment opportunities over the summer. https://www.change.org/p/mayor-bill-de-blasio-tell-nyc-mayor-to-expand-summer-youth-employment?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=affae870-75b8-11ea-b2ca-25139bdfe857
Now Jesse is introducing another student activist, Jaeden Thomas, member of Seattle's NAACP youth council. He's talking about the fight for ethnic studies in Seattle Public Schools. https://www.kuow.org/stories/live-blog-from-seattle-schools-board-meeting-ethnic-studies-black-lives-matter
Q and A: First Q is about Diane Nash. Theoharis talks about Freedom Rides, where the activists encounter massive violence in Alabama. CORE decides to suspend the rides. SNCC, & especially Nash, says that cannot happen.
"Diane Nash drives the Kennedys crazy!" But SNCC is undeterred. They send young people to continue the rides and force the Kennedys' hand.
Missed Q & A #2, but Theoharis is talking about how student activists — then & now — push back EXPLICITLY against "culture of poverty" arguments.
"Directly challenging the idea that they were at fault for their educations, these young people put forth a vision of the kind of education they deserved but weren’t getting.” — A More Beautiful and Terrible History
Q &A #3 goes to the youth activists: Who inspired you? How did you get involved in this work? How can we inspire young people to become activists?
Karma mentions murder of Trayvon Martin when she was 10 (she organized the wearing of black hoodies with her friends at school).
Karma mentions murder of Trayvon Martin when she was 10 (she organized the wearing of black hoodies with her friends at school).
Q & A #4 comes from @HayleyVatch: "I'm interested in teaching all classes with an Ethnic Studies lens vs. teaching an actual class called Ethnic Studies - which approach would be better in the long run?"
Jesse says he's taught both models & thinks it makes sense to do both! Yes, history needs to be inclusive & ALWAYS taught with an ES lens. But a stand alone course serves a different & important function. Wants to honor the movements that originally created ES!
Jesse asks Jeanne for some last thoughts about what this history offers us today.
Theoharis: What does it mean to recognize that young people were at the vanguard of the movement? And to recognize that adults often dismissed them as too reckless or confrontational?
Movements are not necessarily embraced in the moment in which they're happening. (But are often vindicated by history!)
