The Parallels of Young Activists Then and Now





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Young Activists Is it 1968 or 2018 The Parallels of One Generation — 50 Years Apart

of Photo by: Gareth Smit/Redux
Last March, young people gathered in record numbers around the country to protest gun violence. The indelible images of youth marching en masse (like this one of students converging in Washington, D.C., for the March for Our Lives) bear an uncanny resemblance to those from 50 years before. of Photo by: Dick Swanson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
In 1968, with the nation steeped in the Vietnam War, thousands protested the draft, “marching for their lives.” of Photo by: Graeme Sloan

They Use Their Voices

No matter our convictions, a lot of us over time forget the injustices — or, at least, that we can do something about them. Young people see the world through fresh eyes. They want things to be different, and they want change now. Words, spoken and written, are their powerful voice. of Photo by: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images
The determination arising from student demonstrators after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 mirror the protesters of today — except the signs may be a little more DIY now. Exactly when were magic markers invented? of Photo by: Left: Noam Galal/Getty Images; Right: Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images

They Don t Get Inequality

Young people can’t help but call out discrimination. This student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School holds a Black Lives Matter sign during the March of Our Lives, making a statement against racial inequality, profiling and brutality. In a similar expression, a young man paints “VOTE” on his forehead during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Ala., civil rights march on March 25, 1965. of Photo by: Left: Amr Alfinky/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images; Right: John Olson/The LIFE Collection/Getty Images

They Believe in Females 

We may be experiencing a transformative time for women’s equality, but the current #MeToo movement — as well as the record-breaking Women’s March on Washington in 2017 — are a part of a legacy. The Women’s Equality March and Strike on Aug. 26, 1970, commemorated the 50th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment that granted American women full suffrage. of Photo by: Left: Graeme Sloan; Right: Ed Farrand/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

They Fight Back

As targets of recent shootings at schools, young activists protested across the nation, demanding safer learning environments. Not so different from 50 years ago, when young people made a stand to protect themselves from fighting in a war, as did these students from the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 13, 1967. of Photo by: Left: Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images; Right: Stuart Lutz/Gado/Getty Images

They Are Natural Marketers

As much as they are marketed to, the young generation message better than any advertising firm. Back then, they used buttons and placards; now it’s hashtags. Stoneman Douglas student survivors have employed social media to alert the public using hashtags like #NeverAgain, #March4OurLives and #DouglasStrong. “People always say, ‘Get off your phones,’ but social media is our weapon,” Marjorie Stoneman Douglas student and activist Jaclyn Corin told Time magazine. “Without it, the movement wouldn’t have spread this fast.” of Photo by: Left: Chop Somodevilla/Getty Images; Right: John Loengard/ The LIFE Collection/ Getty Images

They Are Leaders — but Never Knew It

Some people were meant to helm a movement. Along with her classmates, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas student Emma Gonzalez emerged as a natural leader, speaking the truth (and dealing with cynical opponents) much like the brave young people who led the civil rights movement in the ’60s. Julian Bond was a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of the major organizations of the civil rights movement. He later became a representative and senator from Georgia of Photo by: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

They Can Go Big

Words have their purpose but sometimes, when you need big impact, you have no other choice but to gather together and use your bodies. Young people, then and now, have employed nonviolent tactics to stand for justice. Sit-ins, lie-ins, and walkouts are all ways young activists make their message, then and now. In 2018, teenagers demonstrated at a gun control rally in Washington Square Park in New York City. of Photo by: Davis Fenton/Getty Images
Flashback 50 years earlier to April 27, 1968 (also in New York City), with anti-Vietnam War demonstrators staging a lie-in at a rally in Central Park. of Photo by: Left: Jennah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

They Want Peace Don t We All

Their call for peace and justice is strong because it’s honest. You want change? The youth hold the truth, then and now. of Also of Interest

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