A History of The Children’s March For Survival in 1972 and Why We Should Plan A 50th Anniversary March for 2022.
While searching images for a different research project, I came across some interesting images about an event I have never heard of before called The Children’s March For Survival which you can see below. (Note: This article continues after the images)
I have taken dozens of classes related to early childhood education, child development, and advocacy. I have even taught courses on those subjects. I have never once heard about this Children’s March for Survival; this is both an embarrassing oversite on my part and shows how many gaps exist in college early childhood education and child development curriculum. After some more researching, I came across a New York Times article about this Children’s March for Survival published the day after the event on March 26th 1972.
The headline of the article was “30,000, Many of Them Children, Protest Nixon Welfare Policies”
I encourage you to read the whole article but I am going to highlight some excerpts below that are mind blowing;
“A wide range of activist leaders took part in the march and rally, but the most striking feature of the demonstration was the thousands of children, who turned the protest into a cheerful playtime
The adults organizing the march, which started at noon, managed to keep the front lines in order from the starting point on the Mall to the corner of 15th Street and Constitution Avenue.
But then the ebullient spirit of the youngsters took over, with many of them running, chanting, and skipping around the Ellipse. Led by a drum and bugle corps, the marchers took on the character of a school class on its way to the Playground. The crowd filled the Ellipse Road until the line stretched entirely around the circular green in front of the White House.
Many of the demonstrators carried deliberately misspelled signs reading “Nixon doesn’t care.”
The crowd estimate of more than 30,000 was provided by the police.
Perhaps as many as two‐ thirds of those at the demon station were black residents of the District of Columbia. While there were demonstrators from other major East Coast cities, as well as other demonstrators from the Washington metropolitan area, the march and rally were clearly dominated by the District's black community.
Today's demonstration was organized by a coalition of groups and individuals. Among the purposes was to urge support of a $6,500 guaranteed annual income for a family of four. President Nixon's program of welfare reform would offer wage supplements to the working poor and provide a minimum income of $2,400 a year for a needy family of four.”
Among those joining in the demonstration were the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev. Jesse Jackson of Operation Push and Beulah Sanders, chairman of the National Welfare Rights Organization. Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr., wife of the slain civil rights leader, received an ovation, when she was introduced at the start of the rally.
Representative Walter Fauntroy, the District's nonvoting member of the House of Representatives, and his 7‐year‐old son, Marvin, joined in welcoming the crowd to the rally. The demonstration was followed by shows and entertainment for the children.
Among the other speakers were former Senator Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota, Rep Bella S. Abzug of Manhattan and Representative Ronald V. Dellurns of California all Democrats. Others who spoke through the afternoon rally, with temperatures in the low 30's, included: Gloria Steinem, the women's rights leader; Shirley MacLaine, the actress, and John Kerry, the antiwar activist.”
First off, this event sounds amazing; especially, since it involved thousands of children participating and playing at the event and it was led by the black community. Second, how about Coretta Scott King being identified as Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr. I know that type of sexism was standard back then, but it is still kind of startling to see. Some of the other names are equally fascinating like Civil Rights legends Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and welfare rights activist Beulah Sanders. Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1988 but he was not the only future presidential contender at the event. John Kerry who went on to become long term senator from Massachusetts, Secretary of State, and The Democrats nominee for president was at the event and described as an “antiwar activist.” If this 1972 version of John Kerry was the one who ran for president in 2004 he might have had a better shot of generating enthusiasm and winning the election. Gloria Steinem who spoke at the event is still making headlines today too.
Getting back to the meat of the protest, one of the things the march was focused on was that Nixon had vetoed The Comprehensive Child Development Bill in 1971 which the Senate voted for 63 to 17. The bill called for a national child care system among other things.
If you never heard of that Bill, The Washington Post wrote about it in 2014:
The New Republic Wrote about it in 2013:
https://newrepublic.com/article/113009/child-care-america-was-very-close-universal-day-care
And The New York Times wrote about it in 1971 when it was first passed and Nixon vetoed it. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/10/archives/president-vetoes-child-care-plan-as-irresponsible-he-terms-bill.html
The NY Times wrote “The child development proposal had attracted unusually broad support from labor, religious, women's liberation and public interest groups. They and Congressional advocates argued that it was a necessary response to a change in society as large numbers of mothers have gone to work” but Nixon said “Neither the immediate need nor the desirability of a national child development program of this character has been demonstrated.”
Flash forward to today.
The issue of early childhood education and care is taking increasing urgency today as the Covid-19 Pandemic is both hurting the early childhood education and care industry and also showing how essential the industry is tp the well being of the country.
According to a recent Washing Post article “Among mothers who remain employed, many have reduced hours to handle additional child-care and housework needs at the expense of their well-being and financial security. These absences may be contributing to widely discussed labor shortages. That’s especially so in sectors such as public education and health care, which have recovered fewer jobs, require in-person work and are where women with children at home made up a large share of the pre-pandemic workforce”
Last year, The House of Representatives passed The Build Back Better Bill which included money for Universal Access to Pre-K, expanding Head Start, subsiding child care, improvements to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for low-income children, and more.
That legislation hit a major roadblock in the Senate. A Vox article summarizes “Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) appeared to plunge his knife in the heart of President Joe Biden’s agenda Sunday, saying in a Fox News appearance that he “cannot vote to continue with” the Build Back Better Act. “I can’t get there.” He added, “This is a no — on this legislation.”
I don’t think we should trust Senator Manchin. Nor should we trust Congress or The White House when it comes to funding for childcare and supporting children and families. We need to get as much publicity on these issues and pressure on elected officials to pass legislation that truly addresses the systemic issues in how we care for children and put The United States on par with much of the world when it comes to prioritizing children and families in our budgets.. How about we march on Washington?
March 25, 2022 would be the 50th anniversary of The 1972 march. That sounds like a pretty good date to me…