1966 Northern High School Walkout Inspires Musical and Student Activism
Mosaic Youth Theatre brings the story to the stage.
In 1966, two thousand students walked out of Detroit’s Northern High School to protest a lack of resources and the poor education they felt they were getting. The students stayed out for three weeks and, in the end, school and district leaders met many of their demands – including a new principal and a curriculum that included African American history.
Mosaic Youth Theatre is telling the story this weekend in the production Northern Lights 1966. WDET’s Sascha Raiyn visited a rehearsal for the play and learned about how the history of the Northern High walkout is being used to encourage student activism today.
The student interviewed for this story, Imani Harris, is also a student intern at WDET.
