Throughout history, teens have used their words to inspire. Over the last 75 years, teens aged 11 to 18 have given speeches in the U.S. that helped lead to desegregation, defined conservative principles, led to global climate strikes, and more. Here are six you should know about.
Barbara Rose Johns
On April 23, 1951, Barbara Rose Johns made a speech that would eventually help lead to the desegregation of schools. Tired of the inferior facilities at her high school in Farmville, Virginia, the county’s high school for Black students, Johns spoke, leading her fellow students into action.
She later said it had been time for “the students themselves to do something about it. There wasn’t any fear. I just thought — this is your moment. Seize it!”
She and her fellow classmates marched out of their school to the courthouse and carried out a two-week strike demanding the construction of a new school.
News coverage of the students’ actions was slim, but after getting into contact with lawyers affiliated with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a lawsuit was filed against the county’s school board. This case would become one of five lawsuits that the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case, which resulted in the desegregation of schools across the country.
Iqbal Masih
In 1994, 11-year-old Iqbal Masih spoke in Boston about the forced labor he’d suffered at a rug factory in Pakistan while receiving a human rights award from Reebok. “We have a slogan at school when children are freed,” said Masih. “We all together say, ‘We are free.’”
In return for a loan, Masih’s parents had sold him off to factory owners at age four, to work until the family’s debt was paid off. After years of suffering while making rugs, Masih was finally able to lead his fellow child workers to freedom after meeting the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), an organization dedicated to ending child labor and bonded labor in South Asia.
After gaining his freedom, Masih became an outspoken activist against these abusive labor practices.
Following his global activism, Masih was murdered in Pakistan on April 16, 1995 — the BLLF still contends that his death came as a result of backlash for his activism. But during his short life, he helped free 3,000 children and brought global attention to their plight: Worldwide carpet sales from Pakistan dropped by nearly $34 million in 1994 — or $77 million in today’s dollars.
Jonathan Krohn
At just 13 years old, Jonathan Krohn spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2009, defining what he believed conservatism to be in the modern political landscape of the United States.
As he put it: “Respect for the Constitution, respect for life, less government and personal responsibility.”
After finishing his speech with a standing ovation, Krohn had articles published about his remarks. One from CBS asked if he was the “Future of the GOP.” After the speech went viral, he also released books about his views on conservatism.
While Krohn appeared to be a rising star in conservative circles, at 17, he told Politico he was moving away from conservatism in an effort to be himself, not defined by any particular ideology. “It wasn’t me thinking,” Krohn said. “It was just me saying things I had heard so long from people I thought were interesting and just came to believe for some reason, without really understanding it.”
Malala Yousafzai
On her 16th birthday — July 12, 2013 — Malala Yousafzai spoke at the United Nations in New York City, nine months after being shot in the head for speaking out against oppression.
When the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP, sometimes called the Pakistani Taliban) invaded the Swat Valley, a region she called home, they imposed strict Islamic law, taking away many rights for women to education and restricting their place in society.
Following the TTP’s announcement that the all-girls schools in the valley would be shut down, Yousafzai, under the pseudonym of Gul Makai, began writing for BBC Urdu, detailing daily life under the restrictive regime. After TV appearances, it became clear that she was the young woman behind the blog.
While she was coming home from school, a TTP gunman shot her. After a wave of global protests in support of her plight, Yousafzai’s speech called upon everyone to speak up for women’s and children’s rights. “I raise up my voice — not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard,” Yousafzai said, who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
X Gonzalez
Days after living through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Florida at just 18 years old, X Gonzalez took the stage in front of a Washington, D.C. crowd estimated between 200,000 to 800,000 people. The crowd had gathered for the first protest of the March for Our Lives movement, which Gonzalez and her classmates created.
In their now-famous speech to the attendees at the 2018 protest, Gonzalez spoke about their experience on the day of the shooting.
Partway through their speech, Gonzalez remained silent for nearly four minutes, while tears streamed down their face. They ended their speech saying, “Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle … Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg was 16 years old when she delivered a blistering speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in September 2019. “You are failing us,” she said to the world leaders gathered.
She was referring to the runaway warming that young people from all around the world had already been protesting, inspired by her “Skolstrejk för Klimatet” (School Strike for Climate). She went on: “Young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.”
Her speech inspired many around the planet to make their own voices heard, in what was called “the Greta effect,” leading to climate strikes in more than 163 countries.
