FACT SHEET
YOUTH PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Youth have always played a strong role in fighting for and bringing about social change. Learn more
about the role youth have played in social movements below and then get involved!
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Birmingham Children’s Crusade: In May 1963 kids helped fight against racial injustice in
Birmingham, Alabama. Thousands of brave children, some as young as 6 years old, marched
peacefully to end segregation, the separation of blacks and whites, in Birmingham on May 2, 1963.
Despite police arresting over 900, young people kept fighting and on May 10, 1963, Birmingham
began desegregation. Learn more!
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Soweto Uprising: For more than fifty years South Africa lived under Apartheid. Apartheid worked
to separate whites from non-whites, in schooling, through language and in employment. On June
16, 1976 up to 10,000 students took to the streets to march peacefully and demonstrate against
this unfair system. Police fired on these protesters and two students died. Learn more about
South Africa and the Apartheid.
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American Students for Immigration Rights: In March 2006, middle and high school students
across America came together to stop the Sensenbrenner Bill which proposed changes to
immigration laws that many thought were unfair and discriminatory. From California to Virginia,
students walked out of schools and marched to protect the human rights of their parents, loved
ones and themselves. In Los Angeles alone 40,000 students participated in the walkouts making
the March Walkouts one of the largest youth demonstrations in the country. Learn more about
immigration rights here!
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Black Lives Matter: Youth have successfully harnessed the power of social media to inspire and
inform millions of people. No other group has been more effective in this than Black Lives Matter,
a national movement that works to stop inequality, particularly as it relates to policing towards
Blacks. What started as a hashtag of “#blacklivesmatter” on Facebook has turned into over 1,000
demonstrations! Middle and High School students united to share their unhappiness with this lack
of fairness towards communities of color by staging protests and walkouts all across the country.
Learn more about Black Lives Matter here.
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The Umbrella Movement: When you think of umbrellas, you certainly wouldn’t think of social
justice. But in Hong King, the umbrella took on a different meaning in 2014. Hong Kong, a former
British colony, enjoyed democracy until it was given back to China in 1997. When China refused to
fulfill its promise of full democracy in Hong Kong by 2017, youth took to the streets and protested
for full democracy in numbers that were unheard of since the Tiananmen Square Movement of
1989 in Beijing. As armed police sprayed teargas into the crowds, protestors opened umbrellas
and walked towards them. Learn more here!
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Glossary
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Human Rights: Basic rights such as the right to be treated well or to vote that most societies
believe every human should have.
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Social Justice: The process of ensuring that every person, society, and nation are provided with
human rights.
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Discrimination: The unfair treatment of a person or group based off differences from other
people.
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Racism: The belief that one person or group of people are better than others because of their
race.
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Inequality: Unfair treatment and access to opportunities that favors a person or group over
another.
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Stereotypes: An incorrect representation or characteristic of a person or group that many people
have.
Stories of Peace Makers:
generationOn has a network of youth involved in solving some of their communities and the world’s
biggest challenges.
Joshua Williams began
upholding the basic
human right to food at
the age of 4. Now at
the age of 13, he has
founded Joshua’s Heart
Foundation and helped to
inspire over 2,200 youth
volunteers to distribute
more than 600,000
pounds of food to “Stomp
Out World Hunger.”
He started out as a kid
who gave $20 to a homeless man, and has
become an inspiration to thousands.
Learn more about Joshua’s Heart
Foundation: http://joshuasheart.org
The River City
Science Academy
generationOn Club
from Jacksonville,
FL helped organize a
protest attended by
over 200 students
and community
members. The
group peacefully
demonstrated at the local Publix in an effort to
encourage the privately owned company to join the
Fair Food Program, a program that helps protect the
human rights of Florida farm workers.
More info and pics can be found here:
http://www.ciw-online.org/blog/2014/03/jacksonville/.
Get Involved:
From small acts to social movements, kids and teens have the power to change the world. There’s
lots of great ways to make a difference when it comes to social justice and human rights, below
are a few ideas to help you get started:
1. Building Bridges: Bring diverse groups of youth together in a service project
2. I Have a Dream Wall: Support youth in reflecting on their ‘ideal world’.
3. Global goals project: Pick your favorite global goal and take a global goal selfie!
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