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Concept
History of youth rights in the United States
Summary
The youth rights movement in the United States has long been concerned with civil rights and intergenerational equity. Tracing its roots to youth activism during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the youth rights movement has influenced the civil rights movement, opposition to the Vietnam War, and many other movements. Since the advent of the Internet, youth rights is gaining predominance again.
Youth rights first emerged as a distinct issue in the 1930s. The Great Depression kick started the radicalization and politicization of undergraduates for the first time. Youth Rights first began to emerge through the National Student League, and were furthered greatly when young people across the country banded together to form the American Youth Congress. Concerned with many issues of the times, this organization went so far as to present a Declaration of the Rights of American Youth to the U.S. Congress. The group was so successful that its executive director claimed that it was "a sort of a student brain of the New Deal." While the AYC's campaigns led to the development of the National Youth Administration in the late 1930s, its efforts lost steam when AYC leadership endorsed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact; this led to loss of support from both the AYC membership and external political allies, such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. This schism caused the rapid decline of the organization, and shortly after the loss of its political benefactors and member support, the AYC collapsed.
In the 1960s, two landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, with the majority opinions authored by Justice Abe Fortas were decided in favor of youths' rights. One was Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District that established free speech in public schools, and the other was In re Gault, that gave due process rights in juvenile court proceedings.
The movement emerged again in the early 1960s with the arrival of Students for a Democratic Society and Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor.
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