Hidden in plain sight : the tragedy of children's rights from Ben Franklin to Lionel Tate / Barbara Bennett Woodhouse.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Woodhouse, Barbara Bennett, 1945-

Series:

Public square (Princeton, N.J.)

The public square book series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989 November 20).

Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Children's rights--United States--History.

Children's rights.

Children--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Children.

African American children--Civil rights--History.

African American children.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (380 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Hidden in Plain Sight tells the tragic untold story of children's rights in America. It asks why the United States today, alone among nations, rejects the most universally embraced human-rights document in history, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This book is a call to arms for America to again be a leader in human rights, and to join the rest of the civilized world in recognizing that the thirst for justice is not for adults alone. Barbara Bennett Woodhouse explores the meaning of children's rights throughout American history, interweaving the childhood stories of iconic figures such as Benjamin Franklin with those of children less known but no less courageous, like the heroic youngsters who marched for civil rights. How did America become a place where twelve-year-old Lionel Tate could be sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1999 death of a young playmate? In answering questions like this, Woodhouse challenges those who misguidedly believe that America's children already have more rights than they need, or that children's rights pose a threat to parental autonomy or family values. She reveals why fundamental human rights and principles of dignity, equality, privacy, protection, and voice are essential to a child's journey into adulthood, and why understanding rights for children leads to a better understanding of human rights for all. Compassionate, wise, and deeply moving, Hidden in Plain Sight will force an examination of our national resistance--and moral responsibility--to recognize children's rights.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword / O'Brien, Ruth

Preface

Introduction: Ain't I a Person?

Chapter 1. How to Think about Childhood

Chapter 2. How to Think about Children's Rights

Part I. The Privacy Principle: Stories of Bondage and Belonging

Chapter 3. Boys in Slavery and Servitude

Chapter 4. Girls at the Intersection of Age, Race, and Gender

Chapter 5. Growing Up in State Custody

Part II. The Agency Principle: Stories of Voice and Participation

Chapter 6. The Printer's Apprentice

Chapter 7. Youth in the Civil Rights Movement

Part III. The Equality Principle: Stories of Equal Opportunity

Chapter 8. Old Maids and Little Women

Chapter 9. Breaking the Prison of Disability

Part IV. The Dignity Principle: Stories of Resistance and Resilience

Chapter 10. Hide and Survive

Chapter 11. Children at Work

Part V. The Protection Principle: Stories of Guilt and Innocence

Chapter 12. Telling the Scariest Secrets

Chapter 13. Age and the Idea of Innocence

Conclusion: The Future of Rights

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [337]-348) and index.

ISBN:

9786612158803

9781282158801

1282158805

9781400829651

1400829658

OCLC:

437267750