Over the past two years, students have increasingly taken to the streets to protest a range of issues, including Donald Trump as president, tolerance of gun violence, and now climate change inaction. This themed post on podcasts covering post-World War II student protest has been inspired by the Backstory podcast’s recent episode (#236) “Teen Activists: A History of Youth Politics and Protest.” Here we briefly outline a few podcast episodes and additional sources you can integrate into your US history classrooms on post-World War II student protesters in high school and college.
Heat and Light – Revolution on Campus
The episode focuses on the racial tensions surrounding the construction of a segregated gym that sparked the student takeover of Columbia University in 1968. Host Phillip Martin speaks with scholars Stefan Bradley and Michael Kazin about how the takeover took place and inspired other major protests that year such as the Democratic National Convention.