Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor
Encyclopedia
Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor was an organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan
. It existed from 1970 to 1979, and is often cited in more recent academic literature as one of the leading forerunners of several youth movements in the United States, including the youth rights movement, youth voice movement
, and the youth media movement
.
and other Ann Arbor teenagers, and served as a principal informational and organizational hub for a host of similar efforts around the country. Its central aims included student control of education, the free development of youth culture, and an end to discrimination against youth, with related emphases on gay rights for young people, environmentalism
, and an end to the Vietnam War
. Youth Liberation also allied with older radicals in Ann Arbor- and Detroit
-area organizations such as the White Panther Party
and the Human Rights Party.
In 1972, Youth Liberation's Sonia Yaco
, a fifteen-year-old student, ran for the Ann Arbor School Board as a member of the local Human Rights Party. Regulations stipulated that only adults could run for school board, but Yaco's demands for a student voice in school governance earned her 1,300 votes as a write-in candidate, or eight percent of the total. Her campaign indirectly influenced the establishment of the experimental, alternative
Community High School in Ann Arbor later that year.
, where the press began publishing FPS, a news service for youth, the press moved to Ann Arbor and merged with Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor. In addition to FPS (later Magazine of Young People's Liberation), the press put out several collections of essays in book and pamphlet format, including:
YOUTH LIBERATION PROGRAM LIST OF WANTS -- "We must liberate ourselves from the death trip of corporate America."
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
. It existed from 1970 to 1979, and is often cited in more recent academic literature as one of the leading forerunners of several youth movements in the United States, including the youth rights movement, youth voice movement
Youth voice
Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identities, and cultural differences...
, and the youth media movement
Youth-led media
Youth-led media is any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications.-Movement:...
.
History
The organization was founded by fifteen-year-old Keith HefnerKeith Hefner (activist)
Keith Hefner is the founder and Executive Director of Youth Communication, an influential nonprofit organization publishing magazines and books by and for youth. The magazines are New Youth Connections, written by New York City teens, and Represent, by and for foster youth...
and other Ann Arbor teenagers, and served as a principal informational and organizational hub for a host of similar efforts around the country. Its central aims included student control of education, the free development of youth culture, and an end to discrimination against youth, with related emphases on gay rights for young people, environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, and an end to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Youth Liberation also allied with older radicals in Ann Arbor- and Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
-area organizations such as the White Panther Party
White Panther Party
The White Panthers were a far-left, anti-racist, White American political collective founded in 1968 by Lawrence Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was asked what white people could do...
and the Human Rights Party.
In 1972, Youth Liberation's Sonia Yaco
Sonia Yaco
Sonia Yaco was the 1972 Human Rights Party candidate for the Ann Arbor, Michigan school board. When she ran for office at the age of fifteen, she became the youngest documented candidate ever for a publicly elected school board seat in the United States....
, a fifteen-year-old student, ran for the Ann Arbor School Board as a member of the local Human Rights Party. Regulations stipulated that only adults could run for school board, but Yaco's demands for a student voice in school governance earned her 1,300 votes as a write-in candidate, or eight percent of the total. Her campaign indirectly influenced the establishment of the experimental, alternative
Alternative education
Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, includes a number of approaches to teaching and learning other than mainstream or traditional education. Educational alternatives are often rooted in various philosophies that are fundamentally different...
Community High School in Ann Arbor later that year.
Publications
The group's publications arm, the Youth Liberation Press, began in 1969 as a separate entity known as the High School Independent Press, based in Chicago, Illinois. After a short stint from 1970-1972 in Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, where the press began publishing FPS, a news service for youth, the press moved to Ann Arbor and merged with Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor. In addition to FPS (later Magazine of Young People's Liberation), the press put out several collections of essays in book and pamphlet format, including:
- How to Start a High School Underground Newspaper (Chicago, IL: High School Independent Press, 1969).
- Youth Liberation: News, Politics and Survival Information (Washington, NJ: Times Change Press, 1972).
- High School Women's Liberation (Ann Arbor, MI: Youth Liberation Press, 1976).
- A Youth Liberation Pamphlet (Ann Arbor, MI: Youth Liberation Press, 1977).
- Growing Up Gay (Boston, MA: Carrier Pigeon, 1978).
- Keith Hefner, Children's Rights Handbook (Ann Arbor, MI: Youth Liberation Press, 1979).
Manifesto
The group's manifesto was reprinted in The Children's Rights Movement: Overcoming the Oppression of Young People, edited by Beatrice and Ronald Gross (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1977), pp. 329-33.YOUTH LIBERATION PROGRAM LIST OF WANTS -- "We must liberate ourselves from the death trip of corporate America."
- 1. We want the power to determine our own destiny.
- 2. We want the immediate end of adult chauvinism.
- 3. We want full civil and human rights.
- 4. We want the right to form our education according to our needs.
- 5. We want the freedom to form into communal families.
- 6. We want the end of male chauvinism and sexism.
- 7. We want the opportunity to create an authentic culture with institutions of our own making.
- 8. We want sexual self-determination. We believe all people must have the unhindered right to be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual.
- 9. We want the end of class antagonism among young people.
- 10. We want the end of racism and colonialism in the United States and the world.
- 11. We want freedom for all unjustly imprisoned people.
- 12. We want the right to be economically independent of adults.
- 13. We want the right to live in harmony with nature.
- 14. We want to rehumanize existence.
- 15. We want to develop communication and solidarity with the young people of the world in our common struggle for freedom and peace.
See also
- History of Youth Rights in the United StatesHistory of youth rights in the United StatesFirst emerging as a distinct movement in the 1930s, the history of youth rights in the United States has long been concerned with civil rights and intergenerational equity. Tracing its roots to youth activists during the Great Depression, youth rights has influenced the civil rights movement,...
- Youth-led mediaYouth-led mediaYouth-led media is any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications.-Movement:...
- Keith HefnerKeith Hefner (activist)Keith Hefner is the founder and Executive Director of Youth Communication, an influential nonprofit organization publishing magazines and books by and for youth. The magazines are New Youth Connections, written by New York City teens, and Represent, by and for foster youth...
- Sonia YacoSonia YacoSonia Yaco was the 1972 Human Rights Party candidate for the Ann Arbor, Michigan school board. When she ran for office at the age of fifteen, she became the youngest documented candidate ever for a publicly elected school board seat in the United States....
External links
- Mike Mosher, "Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor: Young, Gifted and Media-Savvy", Bad Subjects, no. 47 (January 2000).
- Keith Hefner, "The Evolution of Youth Empowerment at a Youth Newspaper", originally published in Social-Policy, vol. 19, no. 1 (Summer 1988), pp. 21-24.