Hidden in Plain Sight: The Tragedy of Children's Rights from Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate

380 Pages·2008·1.85 MB·English

by  Woodhouse, Barbara Bennett

HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
The Public Square Book Series/Princeton University Press
Barbara Bennett Woodhouse
HIDDEN
in
PLAIN SIGHT
The tragedy of
children’s rights from
ben franklin to lionel tate
Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2008 by Princeton University Press
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Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodhouse, Barbara Bennett, 1945–
Hidden in plain sight : the tragedy of children’s rights from
Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate / Barbara Bennett Woodhouse.
p. cm. —(The Public Square Book Series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-12690-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Children’s rights—United States—History. 2. Children—Legal status, laws, etc.—
United States. 3. African American children—Civil rights—History. 4. Convention
on the Rights of the Child (1989) I. Title.
KF479.W66 2008
342.7308'772—dc22 2007026840
This book has been composed in Sabon with Trajan Displays
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To my family
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Contents
Illustrations ix
Foreword by Ruth O’Brien xi
Preface xv
Introduction Ain’t I a Person? 1
Chapter 1 How to Think about Childhood 15
Chapter 2 How to Think about Children’s Rights 29
Part 1 The Privacy Principle: Stories of Bondage and Belonging
Chapter 3 Boys in Slavery and Servitude:
Frederick Douglass 51
Chapter 4 Girls at the Intersection of Age, Race,
and Gender: Dred Scott’s Daughters 75
Chapter 5 Growing Up in State Custody: “Tony”
and “John G.” 93
Part 2 The Agency Principle: Stories of Voice
and Participation
Chapter 6 The Printer’s Apprentice: Ben Franklin
and Youth Speech 111
Chapter 7 Youth in the Civil Rights Movement:
John Lewis and Sheyann Webb 133
viii • contents
Part 3 The Equality Principle: Stories of Equal Opportunity
Chapter 8 Old Maids and Little Women: Louisa Alcott
and William Cather 159
Chapter 9 Breaking the Prison of Disability: Helen Keller
and the Children of “Greenhaven” 180
Part 4 The Dignity Principle: Stories of Resistance and Resilience
Chapter 10 Hide and Survive: Anne Frank and “Liu” 213
Chapter 11 Children at Work: Newsboys, Entrepreneurs,
and “Evelyn” 234
Part 5 The Protection Principle: Stories of Guilt and Innocence
Chapter 12 Telling the Scariest Secrets: Maya Angelou
and “Jeannie” 259
Chapter 13 Age and the Idea of Innocence: “Amal”
and Lionel Tate 279
CONCLUSION The Future of Rights 304
Notes 315
Bibliography 337
Index 349
List of Illustrations
Frontis. New York Newsboy by William Penn Warren, circa
1870 xx
Fig. 1. Frederick Douglass as a young man 54
Fig. 2. Lizzie and Eliza Scott with Dred and Harriet
Scott 88
Fig. 3. Benjamin Franklin as a printer’s apprentice 117
Fig. 4. John Lewis on Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma,
Alabama 151
Fig. 5. Willa Cather in her youth, dressed as William 172
Fig. 6. Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan 188
Fig. 7. Anne Frank on a West German postage stamp,
1979 215
Fig. 8. Young workers march, carrying signs reading “abolish
child slavery,” in the early 1900s 242
Fig. 9. Author at about age four 270
Fig. 10. Lionel Tate, age fourteen, on trial for murder 290
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