Why October is Youth History Month

The contributions of youth to American history are great, but they are greatly overlooked. Consider just a few examples.

The Forgotten

	Barbara Johns

At age 16, Barbara Johns made the most dramatic contribution to the American Civil Rights Movement. She took over her black high school and shut it down, leading to the legal crisis that wound up in the Supreme Court as Brown v. Board of Education, the case that ended legal segregation in America.

Rosa Parks is often held up as the great heroine of that Movement because she refused to get out of a bus seat. Few people know that when she did so, she was merely following the example of 15-year-old Claudette Colvin who did the same thing in the same city several months earlier.

Other parts of our history have been equally influenced by youth. Eliza Lucas (later Eliza Lucas Pinckney) was 16 when she took over her father's South Carolina plantation and made such brilliant decisions, she soon became one of the wealthiest business leaders in the American colonies. Her leadership enriched the colonies by boosting trade, and she later put her support behind the American Revolution. So great was her importance to our nation that when she died, no less than George Washington asked to be a pallbearer at her funeral.

Teachers told you endlessly about the midnight ride of Paul Revere, but did they ever tell you of the similar ride by Sybil Ludington? At 16, Ms. Ludington rode twice the distance Revere did — through a rainstorm no less — charging her horse over roads of mud to warn the countryside that Red Coats were sacking Danbury, Connecticut, seizing the foothold they would need to retake the colonies. Ludington alerted militia men, and the militia was able to stop the invasion, chasing the Red Coats back to their ships.

Not only have youth contributed to our political history, they have contributed as well to our rich cultural history. Horror novels were changed forever when a teenaged Mary Shelley penned her novel Frankenstein. Young Adult novels were changed even more radically when 15-year-old S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders. These books are well-remembered, but the youth of the authors is often kept quiet, like some dirty secret.

One example of the ignorance this causes surfaced when a conservative columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle tried to ridicule a school board for proposing that English classes include literature by racial minorities, literature that might offer more appeal to minority students. Columnist Debra J. Saunders attacked this by drawing it out to its logical conclusion: "Since kids can only relate to books that address their lives, they should only be expected to read stuff written by other kids." She went on to explain this would be silly because "it limits the reading list" to four authors: 1) Anne Frank, 2) Drew Barrymore (who apparently wrote an autobiography after her career as a child actor dried up), 3) Rimbaud, and 4) Teen People. (1) (Note to Debbie: Teen People is not written by teenagers; if it were, it would not have the hated word "teen" in the title.)

The publishing industry has always been dominated by adults prone to trivialize youth. Despite this obstacle, dozens of children and teenagers have broken into print, and Drew Barrymore is hardly among the four most significant. The list of young authors includes Tennessee Williams (16 when he wrote "The Vengeance of Nitocris"), Edith Wharton (15 when she completed Fast and Loose), Jane Austin (14 when she wrote Love and Friendship), and Jorge Luis Borges (9 when he wrote his Spanish translation of Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince"), among others.

When Not Forgotten, Misremembered

Just as shameful as omitting the contributions of youth perhaps is mischaracterizing them. During the romanticized period of American history known as the Old West, one figure towered above the others. Billy the Kid was the one gunfighter who actually earned his fame. Others became legends because they were good at public relations. Jesse James wrote press releases magnifying his crimes. Wild Bill Hickock became famous when he murdered three defenseless farmers (because one made fun of Hickock's large lips), then lied, claiming they had attacked him with guns and he had single-handedly fought them off. Billy the Kid, an outlaw, lied the other way, claiming he was just a farmer who had done nothing worthy of note.

Never old enough to vote in any election, the Kid nevertheless played a role in removing from office a corrupt governor by way of impeachment and a corrupt sheriff by way of assassination. While he tried to keep a low profile, his skill and intelligence drew attention, and circumstances forced him to show off. Awaiting execution for shooting the aforementioned sheriff, Billy the Kid single-handedly slipped his handcuffs, killed every lawman in town, and casually rode home. There was no hiding that legend.

Film-makers, novelists, and even the authors of shoddier "non-fiction" have tried their best to tear the Kid down. Often they portray Billy the Kid as a psychotic killer, giggling as he murders helpless victims. The truth is, of the gunfighters who became famous in the Wild West, Billy the Kid was probably the most humane. Lawman Wyatt Earp bragged of pistol-whipping prisoners. Jesse James was known for savagely killing the defenseless. Billy the Kid, by contrast, often gave his enemies every chance to live and every chance to save face.

Outside of the Lincoln County War, the Kid is known to have killed four men, all in self-defense. During the Lincoln County War, while his side was under the command of older men, the Kid did his share of the shooting, but no more than his share. (Not one was killed by Billy the Kid acting alone.) Eventually the Kid took leadership once he overcame his older companions' ageism through his many displays of cleverness and courage. Once in command, the Kid changed the tactics. He never led his side in a single violent attack, choosing instead to attack the enemy economically by stealing their livestock. While Billy the Kid did not start this range war, he was the man who initiated the peace process, sending out feelers to the opposing leadership and finally sitting down with them to forge an agreement.

Solutions

Why is youth history so widely unknown? Historians admit they are reluctant to examine the work of young people, fearing others will trivialize such research. We need Youth History Month to awaken people, to help them see that the contributions of youth are not trivial, nor are the possibilities for youth today.

If you are still in school, ask your history teachers to talk about Johns and Pinckney. Ask English teachers to discuss Shelley and Hinton. If your teachers don't know of these great figures, educate them.

If you are a teacher, talk about youth history. Experience has shown that young students get more interested in learning when young people are not omitted from the subject matter.

October is a month for us to recognize there are no age-limits on making history. And there should be no age-limits on being remembered and honored.

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Works Cited

1.

Saunders, Debra J. "Don't Read Anyone Over 20." San Francisco Chronicle. March 17, 1998. Pg. A-19.