Into the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States

Gr 9 Up–From slave rebellions and the Boston Tea Party, to the 2017 Women’s March and the March for Our Lives following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, Bieschke covers the history of major protests in the United States. In chronological order, each protest is allotted a four-page vignette of text, photographs, and relevant sidebars. While most protests are, almost by definition, anti-establishment or anti-government, the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally is included. Bieschke approaches this event as an exercise of First Amendment rights. Not all protests have sparked the desired changes in society or government. Not all have been peaceful, either, often involving violence both from protesters and/or from law and government officials. However, the text never loses sight of the fact that the right to assemble and protest is a basic American right. A short section of suggestions on how to start a protest completes the book. Source notes are included; the majority are websites, with a smattering of print sources. The online sources are from legitimate and respected news outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, BBC, and the Institute for Policy Studies. A good index is helpful; an annotated list of recommended reading features impressive choices.