Not all rebellion is loud. Not all resistance wears combat boots or balls up a fist. At times, the most powerful defiance begins with a question, a whisper, a refusal. And behind those brave young voices is an adult who didn’t silence them. Who heard and supported them. There is a kind of defiance that doesn’t shout, one that chooses to wear a symbol, refuses to say a few words, or just walks proudly. This defiance isn’t destructive. It simply declares plainly: I will not go along with this. I see what is wrong, and I won’t pretend otherwise.

This is a tribute to those who resist with clarity, courage, and kindness. It is a tribute to the adults who stood beside them—who didn’t silence them, belittle them, and refuse to clip their wings. Instead, they said said, “I see you. I believe in you. I’m with you.”

 

The Gentle Power of Good Trouble

The late Congressman John Lewis called it “good trouble.” Paulo Freire called it “critical consciousness.” Fred Rogers might have called it simply being brave enough to care out loud. bell hooks called it education as the practice of freedom. Howard Zinn called it the responsibility of people to make history, not just learn it. John Holt and A.S. Neill argued that children when trusted, think for themselves and learn because they are alive, not because they are told to.

Whatever name you give it, positive rebellion, when rooted in empathy and justice, is one of the most potent forces in the world. It is a force that says: We will not be molded into silence. We will not let cruelty be normalized. We will not accept injustice simply because of tradition or the law.

The stories that follow are not about violence or destruction. They are about young people who stood up, sat down, stayed quiet, spoke up, or refused to look away. These young people reclaimed their agency and used it for positive rebellion. These stories are about acts so determined that they cracked something open in the world. These are the kind of stories that teach learning as freedom. Because real learning is liberation.

Mary Beth, John, and Lorena Tinker

In 1965, thirteen-year-old Mary Beth Tinker had been so affected by the news of the war she decided to visibly and actively mourn the loss of life on both sides of the Vietnam War. Mary, her brother, and other students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War and support a truce. She shared her thoughts on this in an interview: “We had examples in our life of people who really sacrifice and the Birmingham kids, four of them were killed for speaking up against racial segregation. I felt like getting suspended was really not a very bad thing to happen compared to that.” “Mary Beth Tinker Describes Her Experiences Participating in a Student Protest in 1965”.  She, along with five other students, was, in fact, suspended.

Her mother, Lorena, didn’t scold her children or tell them to keep their heads down and to fall in line. Instead, she helped them stand taller and stronger. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Court ruled that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Their advocate was a parent who believed her children could think for themselves. Their bravery and her support helped change constitutional law. Theirs became an influential precedent in defense of student freedom of expression. That’s the power of advocacy and belief.

Ruby & Lucille Bridges

In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became one of the first Black children, along with Gail Etienne, Leona Tate, and Tessie Prevost, who were transferred to the all-white McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School in New Orleans. Each day, Ruby walked through an angry mob hurling slurs and threats. Her mother, Lucille, walked beside her. Every. Single. Day.

Lucille believed that her daughter had a right to the same quality of education as anyone else. She didn’t just say this—she actively facilitated it. Lucille felt that action was needed to give her daughter a better education and “to take a step forward for all African-American children.” Their walks through hatred became a defining image of civil rights in America. The Bridges family suffered in many ways from their decision to send Ruby to William Frantz Elementary. But, sometimes, resistance is as heroic and necessary as getting an education or escorting your child to school. 

Sophie Scholl & The White Rose Circle

Sophie Scholl (and her brother Hans) were raised in a politically engaged family, meaning they had always been a part of discussions about social issues, thought experiments, and more. In Nazi Germany, Sophie initially joined the female branch of the Hitler Youth when she was twelve, as had most of her classmates, but she quickly became critical of the Nazi regime. She had always been a voracious reader and was influenced by philosophy, theology, and the writings of Theodor Haecker, which led her to see the injustices of the Nazi regime and to become interested in passive resistance. 

Sophie (and her brother) joined the non-violent resistance group called the White Rose. They wrote and distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, urging Germans to open their eyes to the horrors around them. After they were caught at the university dispersing leaflets, they were arrested by the Gestapo. Quickly afterward, they were tried and convicted of high treason in a show trial and finally executed by guillotine in 1943. Sophie was 21 years old. 

Her father and a network of professors and peers who believed in the power of peaceful resistance encouraged their courage. Among them was Kurt Huber, a philosophy professor who helped write the final pamphlets of the White Rose. Huber’s execution came shortly after theirs.

“Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.” –Sophie Scholl

After her death, copies of the final White Rose leaflet were air-dropped over Germany by the Allies. Their words live on, still dangerous to tyrants. 

“It is possibly the most spectacular moment of resistance that I can think of in the twentieth century ... The fact that five little kids, in the mouth of the wolf, where it really counted, had the tremendous courage to do what they did, is spectacular to me. I know that the world is better for them having been there…” –Lillian Garrett-Groag 

Claudette Colvin & the Civil Rights Community

Before Rosa Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested and was one of the four plaintiffs in the first case that challenged segregation on public transportation. She has been pretty much erased from the official story, in part because she was young, poor, and pregnant during the proceedings, which civil rights campaigners didn’t believe was the best PR. “If the white press got ahold of that information, they would have [had] a field day. They’d call her a bad girl, and her case wouldn’t have a chance.” –Rosa Parks

Colvin recalled the moment on the bus, “History kept me stuck to my seat. I felt the hand of Harriet Tubman pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing down on the other.” – “Claudette Colvin: First to keep her seat”

But community members rallied around her behind the scenes. Though not publicly supported in the same way as Parks, her act of resistance became a foundational crack in the system. Some rebellions are hidden, quiet, or inconvenient—but they matter. They always matter.

Samantha Smith and her parents

In 1982, at just 10 years old, Samantha Smith from Maine wrote a letter to Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov asking why he wanted war. She was a young peace activist. After Yuri Andropov’s personal reply inviting her to visit the Soviet Union she became a Goodwill Ambassador at the height of the Cold War.

 

Her Letter:

Dear Mr. Andropov,

My name is Samantha Smith. I am 10 years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren’t please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like it if you would. Why do you want to conquer the world or at least our country? God made the world for us to share and take care of. Not to fight over or have one group of people own it all. Please lets do what he wanted and have everybody be happy too.

Samantha Smith

 

Mr. Andropov’s reply:

Dear Samantha,

I received your letter, which is like many others that have reached me recently from your country and from other countries around the world.

It seems to me – I can tell by your letter – that you are a courageous and honest girl, resembling Becky, the friend of Tom Sawyer in the famous book of your compatriot Mark Twain. This book is well known and loved in our country by all boys and girls.

You write that you are anxious about whether there will be a nuclear war between our two countries. And you ask, are we doing anything so that war will not break out?

Your question is the most important of those that every thinking man can pose. I will reply to you seriously and honestly.

Yes, Samantha, we in the Soviet Union are trying to do everything so that there will not be war on Earth. This is what every Soviet man wants. This is what the great founder of our state, Vladimir Lenin, taught us.

Soviet people well know what a terrible thing war is. Forty-two years ago, Nazi Germany, which strove for supremacy over the whole world, attacked our country, burned and destroyed many thousands of our towns and villages, killed millions of Soviet men, women and children.

In that war, which ended with our victory, we were in alliance with the United States: together we fought for the liberation of many people from the Nazi invaders. I hope that you know about this from your history lessons in school. And today, we want very much to live in peace, to trade and cooperate with all our neighbors on this earth—with those far away and those nearby. And certainly with such a great country as the United States of America.

In America and in our country there are nuclear weapons—terrible weapons that can kill millions of people in an instant. But we do not want them to be ever used. That’s precisely why the Soviet Union solemnly declared throughout the entire world that never will it use nuclear weapons first against any country. In general we propose to discontinue further production of them and to proceed to the abolition of all the stockpiles on Earth.

It seems to me that this is a sufficient answer to your second question: ‘Why do you want to wage war against the whole world or at least the United States?’ We want nothing of the kind. No one in our country–neither workers, peasants, writers nor doctors, neither grown-ups nor children, nor members of the government–want either a big or ‘little’ war.

We want peace—there is something that we are occupied with: growing wheat, building and inventing, writing books and flying into space. We want peace for ourselves and for all peoples of the planet. For our children and for you, Samantha.

I invite you, if your parents will let you, to come to our country, the best time being this summer. You will find out about our country, meet with your contemporaries, visit an international children’s camp – Artek – on the sea. And see for yourself: in the Soviet Union, everyone is for peace and friendship among people.

Thank you for your letter. I wish you all the best in your young life.

Y. Andropov

Her parents supported and accompanied her on the two-week trip to the USSR and her following peacemaking activities in Japan. Samantha reminded the world that children can be clear-eyed messengers of peace.

Diplomacy doesn’t always start in government. Sometimes, it starts with a question, the confidence to reach out, and a stamp.

Autumn Peltier & the Women Who Came Before

Autumn Peltier, an Anishinaabe water protector from Canada, began speaking out about the sacredness of water at just 8 years old. By 13, she addressed the United Nations, and at 14, she was named Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation.

Her activism is part of a lineage: her great-aunt Josephine Mandamin was a celebrated water walker who circled the Great Lakes. Autumn’s voice is amplified by the matriarchal traditions of her people. She believes in the power of young people to create change and has been supported and, in turn, supports the advocacy of other youth to make change collectively. 

Some children carry the strength of generations when they speak.

David Spritzler & the Civil Liberties Union

A 12-year-old student at the Boston Latin School in Massachusetts named David Spritzler refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance (as others before him had done), but he took it a step further. He did not stand.  He would not recite something he did not believe or stand up for it. To him, the pledge was a lie. He didn’t think “liberty and justice for all” existed in the U.S. He would not compromise his principles by standing because standing was also part of the pledge. 

We don’t know as much about who stood beside him at home, but the fact that he made his case so clearly suggests that someone supported him and strengthened his belief that his thoughts mattered. In fact, David visited the Civil Liberties Union, and its legal director informed the headmaster: “I have no doubt that there are many who will say that Mr. Spritzler’s actions are disrespectful and undeserving of any protection, but the flag they would honor symbolizes the very freedom he seeks to exercise.”

After their involvement with David, the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts proposed another change at the school; the person who at the time directed the Bill of Rights Education Project, Nancy Murray, would go to the school and address all the civics classes on the rights of students, including, of course, the rights of student dissenters.

Let this be a reminder: support from wherever it comes is invaluable. It could come from a parent but also from a teacher, a librarian, or a stranger who confirms, “You’re allowed to think differently. Your voice counts, too.” Sometimes, of course, it’s the people who work at the Civil Liberties Union.

Will Phillips & His Parents

In 2009, 10-year-old Will Phillips refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance because he believed the words “liberty and justice for all” did not apply to LGBTQ+ people. He said he would stand again when it was true.

“At the end of the Pledge it says ‘liberty and justice for all.’ But there isn’t justice for people who are gay. And there’s a lot of racism and sexism still, and there are lots of people who can’t get health care.”

He was mocked by classmates and criticized by adults. But his parents stood behind him, saying, “We started getting emails right away from people who assumed he was parroting what he hears at home,” his mother said. “But this was entirely Will’s idea. He thought about it and told us that ‘If people don’t speak up, then nothing ever changes.’”

It shouldn’t be radical to support your child for speaking the truth. And yet, somehow, it often still is.

Greta & Svante Thunberg

At fifteen, Greta Thunberg began her climate strike alone outside the Swedish Parliament. It was lonely at first. She skipped school every Friday to sit with her sign. Her father, Svante Thunberg, initially did not support his daughter’s school strike. He believed that she should attend school and not miss any classes. His message to her was, “If you are going to do this, you are going to do it by yourself.” 

Soon enough, though, her dedication and his concern for her changed him, “Greta forced us to change our lives. I didn’t have a clue about the climate. We started looking into it, reading all the books.” He didn’t always understand, but he chose to listen. He supported her in changing their family’s lifestyle. He went with her to events and helped amplify her voice.

Greta graduated from high school in 2023. Her activism continued to gain international attention. As an adult, her protests have included peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience.

Greta hasn’t asked for the world to change for her. She has stood her ground and asked us to listen. Her father did, and others followed.

Malala & Ziauddin Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is widely known. She is a female education activist, author, producer, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She has spoken up for girls’ right to education under Taliban rule in Pakistan since she was a young girl. At fifteen, she was shot in the head for it. After she recovered, she continued her advocacy with renewed vigor and a well-deserved international platform.

Her father, Ziauddin, was a school principal and education activist who always encouraged her voice. His thoughts and humanitarian work inspired her from a young age.

In October 2013 she was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and she said: “I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, “If he comes, what would you do Malala?” then I would reply to myself, “Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.” But then I said, “If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly; you must fight others through peace, dialogue, and education.” Then I said “I will tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children as well.” And I will tell him, “That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.”

Ziauddin once said, “Don’t ask me what I did. Ask me what I didn’t do. I didn’t clip her wings.”

What These Stories Share

These acts of resistance have not been violent; some have not been dramatic, while others have been breathtaking. What they have been is intentional. They are powerful choices made by young people who were paying attention and believed they had a right to be heard. A youth-led resistance isn’t novel, but it is always inspiring.

But these young people were not alone.

Behind each one, a brave adult stood beside them, spoke up with them, or created space for them to stand. The adult needn’t control the message, but they should amplify it. Their stories live at the intersection of education and rebellion. They remind us that the act of learning —truly learning— is a kind of resistance. Learning and knowledge is at the crux of all of these stories of resistance. Because when we start to see more clearly, with a broader scope, we stop accepting what should never have been normalized in the first place.

Learning is radical. Listening is radical. Trusting young people is radical. Standing beside them is radical. 

Be the Grown-Up Who Backs the Positive Rebellion

We can teach kids about heroes from the past. We can read books and assign projects and play documentaries. But if we want to raise people who make good trouble, we must do more.

We must:

• Listen actively when kids ask hard questions.
• Support them when they challenge power.
• Support their courage, even when it makes us uncomfortable.
• Model peaceful dissent ourselves.
• Share stories of past rebels (these give us all courage).
• Create space for their thoughts and their doubts.

The world changes when kids speak the truth and adults protect their right to do so. Change doesn’t come from conformity. It comes from people who ask better questions and demand real responses.

Rebellion doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Sometimes, it’s a girl with an armband. A boy who won’t stand. A mother walking next to her child. A homemade zine.  

These are the rebels. These are the grown-ups who chose courage. Let us be them.

 

“Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone.”

–Sophie Scholl

 

References & Further Reading

Historical Cases & Figures

• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

• Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes. Scholastic Press, 1999.

• “Mary Beth Tinker Describes Her Experiences Participating in a Student Protest in 1965,” Smithsonian Education.

• The White Rose: Munich, 1942–1943 by Inge Scholl.

• Colvin, Claudette. Twice Toward Justice. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.

• Samantha Smith’s letters, Journey to the Soviet Union, Little, Brown, 1985.

• Peltier, Autumn. Speeches at the United Nations, 2018 & 2019.

• Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts archives on student dissent, 1970.

• Press coverage of Will Phillips’ protest, Arkansas Times, 2009.

• Greta Thunberg, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, Penguin, 2019.

• Yousafzai, Malala & Christina Lamb. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Little, Brown, 2013.

Philosophical & Educational Frameworks

• Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum, 1970.

• bell hooks. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge, 1994.

• Howard Zinn. You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. Beacon Press, 1994.

• John Holt. How Children Learn. Da Capo Lifelong Books, 1967.

• A.S. Neill. Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing. Hart Publishing, 1960.

• Congressman John Lewis. Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change. Hachette, 2012.

Quotations

• Sophie Scholl’s last words and reflections, collected in At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl.

• Rosa Parks on Claudette Colvin, as cited in Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

• Lillian Garrett-Groag on the White Rose movement, NPR Interview, 2006.