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. Ethical Culture Leader Arthur Dobrin writes [1]:

This leadership-training program brought together teenagers from around the country to learn the tools of democratic citizenship. The campers analyzed social problems and studied political theory in a culturally and racial diverse setting. In addition, the campers spent four days a week doing an internship in the city, learning about democracy by doing the work of responsible citizens.

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 [2].

Today the program is in hiatus, having been so for a number of years.

References and links

• Algernon D. Black, The Young Citizens: The Story of the Encampment for Citizenship (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1962).

• Encampment for Citizenship factsheet (on the American Ethical Union's "Yes" youth program website) at http://www.yesweb.org/gkr_project_factsheet.html?pid=860.

• 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). http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/encamp-for-citizenship.htm [Accessed July 28, 2006]. (The 1944 date provided on this page is in error, as is the claim that the "Encampment for Citizenship has since become a nationwide program that continues to conduct citizen workshops to this day." The program is actually inactive, having been so at least since 2004.)