American Youth Congress
{{Short description|United States-based youth rights organisation (1935–1940)}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox organisation|
| image = File:American Youth Congress Leaders 1939.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption = AYC leaders Jack R. McMichael, William W. Hinckley and Joseph Cadden before the House Un-American Activities Committee, 1939
| abbreviation = AYC
| formation = {{start date and age|1935}}
| dissolved = {{end date and age|1940}}
| affiliations = World Youth Congress Movement
| type =
| purpose = Youth rights advocacy
| location_country = United States
}}
The American Youth Congress (AYC) was an early youth voice organization composed of young people from across the United States who gathered to discuss the problems facing youth as a whole in the 1930s.
At the time, United States citizens were not legally considered adults until the age of 21, and so the group focused on the under-discussed economic exploitation of adolescents and children.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
The formation of the AYC is seen as a precursor to the establishment of the National Youth Administration. Both the AYC and the NYA are notable for the support lent them by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Affiliated with the World Youth Congress Movement, the AYC hosted the 1938 Second World Youth Congress at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
History
File:Berkeley, California. University of California Student Peace Strike. Speaker Abbot Simon, Secretary of the World... - NARA - 532101.tif on April 19, 1940]]
The American Youth Congress, or AYC, was formed in 1935 to advocate for youth rights in U.S. politics, and was responsible for introducing the American Youth Bill of Rights to the U.S. Congress. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's relationship with the AYC eventually led to the formation of the National Youth Administration (NYA).Black, A., Hopkins, J. et al. (2003) [http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/american-youth-congress.htm "American Youth Congress,"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019032029/http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/american-youth-congress.htm |date=October 19, 2007 }} The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. Teaching Eleanor Roosevelt. Hyde Park, New York: Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. Retrieved 7/30/07. While speaking of the NYA in the 1930s, Eleanor Roosevelt expressed her concerns regarding ageism, stating that "I live in real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary."(nd) [http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eerpapers/teachinger/glossary/nya.cfm "National Youth Administration,"] Teaching Eleanor Roosevelt Glossary. The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project. Retrieved 7/30/07.
On July 4, 1936, the AYC issued the Declaration of the Rights of American Youth. The document addressed several issues, chief among them being the inalienable rights they believed were due to young people, and the economic problems which most affected them.The full text of the declaration is found at [http://newdeal.feri.org/students/ayc.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091224230926/http://newdeal.feri.org/students/ayc.htm|date=2009-12-24}}. Its Chairman in 1937 was William W. Hinckley, a member of the Communist-led Psychologists League.Harris, B. (in press). "Down with Fascism, Up with Science": Activist Psychologists in the U.S., 1932-1941. History of Psychology. By 1939 the movement claimed 4,697,915 members in 513 affiliated organizations nationwide.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
On February 10, 1940, members of the AYC, as guests of First Lady Roosevelt, attended a picnic on the White House lawn where they were addressed by President Roosevelt from the South Portico. Appealing to them to condemn not merely the Nazi regime but also all other dictatorships, Roosevelt was reportedly booed by the group.[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15918 Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Address to the Delegates of the American Youth Congress. Washington, D.C., February 10, 1940"]{{cite web |title=National Affairs: Surprise Party |url=https://time.com/archive/6763534/national-affairs-surprise-party/ |website=Time |access-date=13 November 2024 |language=en |date=22 July 1940}} Afterwards, many of the same youth picketed the White House as representatives of the American Peace Mobilization.{{Cite web |title=Guide to the American Youth Congress Records |url=https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/tamwag/tam_553/ |website=NYU Libraries}}
Later in 1940, despite Eleanor Roosevelt's defense of the organization, published under the title "Why I still believe in the Youth Congress," the American Youth Congress was disbanded.{{Cite web |url=http://newdeal.feri.org/er/er26.htm |title=Eleanor Roosevelt, "Why I Still Believe in the Youth Congress," in New Deal Network: Selected Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt, originally published in Liberty, (April 1940): 30-32. |access-date=2005-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006022108/http://newdeal.feri.org/er/er26.htm |archive-date=2016-10-06 |url-status=dead }}
{{Wikisource|Declaration of the Rights of American Youth}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
- California Legislature, Joint Fact Finding Committee, Fourth Report, Un-American Activities in California, 1948: Communist Front Organizations; (Sacramento, CA, 1948) p. 180.
- John T. Flynn, The Roosevelt Myth, (New York: Devin-Adair, 1948)
External articles
{{Wikisource publisher|American Youth Congress}}
- Eleanor Roosevelt, [https://web.archive.org/web/20161006022108/http://newdeal.feri.org/er/er26.htm Why I Still Believe in the Youth Congress]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20051122194308/http://newdeal.feri.org/students/lash.htm The Student Movement of the 1930s], Joseph P. Lash, Interview.
{{Youth empowerment}}
{{Eleanor Roosevelt}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Youth organizations established in 1935
Category:Organizations disestablished in 1940
Category:Communism in the United States
Category:Political history of the United States
Category:Youth rights organizations based in the United States