Encampment for Citizenship

The Encampment for Citizenship was a summer camp founded by Algernon D. Black in 1946 through the New York Society for Ethical Culture. The camp program's aim was, according to the society, for "young adults of many religious, racial, social and national backgrounds" to learn "the principles and techniques of citizenship in a liberal democracy through lived experience." Campers would establish their own camp government and be guided toward socio-political activism, a sense of civic responsibility, and volunteerism — all in a context of tolerance and diversity.

Eleanor Roosevelt, a long-time member of the society's board of directors, was an early supporter of the program and routinely hosted encampment workshops at her Hyde Park estate. When the program was attacked as "socialistic" by McCarthyite forces in the early 1950s, Roosevelt vigorously defended it. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was a later supporter.

Further reading

• Algernon D. Black, The Young Citizens: The Story of the Encampment for Citizenship (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1962).
• Clyde Hart, "Applications of Methods of Evaluation: Four Studies of the Encampment for Citizenship," Public Opinion Quarterly, volume 27, page 663.
• The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. "Encampment for Citizenship." Teaching Eleanor Roosevelt, ed. by Allida Black, June Hopkins, et al. (Hyde Park, New York: Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, 2003).
• Encampment for Citizenship Collection, Collection Number M 391, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

External links

• Encampment for Citizenship factsheet