Coming this summer from Zest Books™, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group™, ‘Into the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States‘ by Marke Bieschke takes readers on a visual voyage of resistance through American history. Originally slated for publication in August, ‘Into the Streets’ will now be available on July 7, 2020, in response to the protests against the murder of George Floyd. ‘Into the Streets’ will help young people not only process current events, but enable them to start conversations about what is happening in our society.
What does it mean to resist? From the time of our nation’s foundation, discrimination and unjust treatment of all kinds have prompted people to make their objections and outrage known. Some protests involve large groups of people, marching or holding signs with powerful slogans. Others start with quotes or hashtags on social media that go viral and spur changes in behavior. ‘Into the Streets’ introduces the protests that helped to shape the United States from all sides of the political spectrum including women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, occupations by Native American nations, LGBTQ demands for equality, Tea Party protests, Black Lives Matter protests, and more. Engaging text and striking photographs highlight the leadership, artwork, music, fashion, and creativity of the activists.
The book introduces the personalities and issues that drove these protests, as well as their varied aims and accomplishments, from spontaneous hashtag uprisings to highly planned strategies of civil disobedience.
Publisher’s Weekly lays out how Marke takes the reader through historical context and events, and ties them in with what we see happening today and the how many rights won for marginalized groups have come from various forms of protests.
“After a brief introduction defining protest and its myriad forms, chapters chronologically feature demonstrations both storied and lesser-known, violent and peaceful, between 1492 and 2018. Nearly three-quarters of the book focuses on progressive protests (the Stonewall riots, the Ferguson uprising), while the remainder center on political or environmental movements. Straightforward storytelling highlights key people, slogans, strategies, and reasons for these movements, often emphasizing the role played by teens, such as that of climate activist Greta Thunberg,” says the site.
Perfect for young adult audiences, ‘Into the Streets’ highlights how teens are frequently the ones protesting and creating the art of the resistance. By examining the revolutions of the past, this book inspires young voices to rise up and demand changes for the future.
For those who aren’t already familiar with Marke’s previous work, his book ‘Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens’ was written as a way to inspire modern day activist LGBTQ youth and remind people of how it is the work of everyday activists and organizers who should largely be credited with progress in society.
“That book pointed out how much LGBTQ rights depended on marginalized people bravely raising their voices in protest, sometimes rioting and putting themselves directly in physical danger—and also social danger, since being “exposed” as gay or lesbian in the 1960s and ‘70s, when the contemporary gay rights movement began, could mean loss of your career, your home, and your family. We wanted to expand on that history and dig deeper into the origins of US protest itself,” he explained to author and blogger Elizabeth Dulemba in an interview.
Although we are living in very turbulent and uncertain times politically, socially and environmentally, Marke says his book offers readers hope in especially the younger generation who have been on the forefront of change historically.
“This is a book for young people, and it’s full of protests started by young people, from the schoolchildren of the 1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade and the high school walkouts of 1968 Los Angeles, which launched the Chicano Movement—all the way up to Greta Thunberg’s climate strikes and the Parkland school shooting survivors’ March for Our Lives. Here in San Francisco last week, 17-year-old Simone Jacques of Mission High School organized and addressed a 10,000-person George Floyd protest. Young people embody our eternal hope that we can change the world for the better. The fact that they continue to lead us on the biggest issues of our day fills me with tremendous hope for our future,” he told Elizabeth.
The book is out July 7, 2020, and you can pre-order your copy here.
