In 1942, with urban youth violence on the rise, District of Columbia Metropolitan Police rookie Oliver A. Cowan proposed a novel solution: a youth engagement program called the “Junior Police Corps.”
At the time, Washington, D.C., was governed by a Congress dominated by segregationists, and most Black residents of the nation’s capital lived under the constraints of Jim Crow–era discrimination. Despite these barriers, Officer Cowan created an integrated program that harnessed the talents and energy of local youth while drawing support from civic-minded citizens, community organizations, business leaders, athletes, and entertainers who volunteered their time and resources.
Assigned to one of the city’s most impoverished precincts, Cowan accomplished what many thought impossible: he persuaded leaders of some of the area’s most notorious youth gangs to help build a program focused on recreation, citizenship, and personal development. As juvenile crime rates declined, Cowan’s program was adopted throughout the city.
Martin Alan Greenberg chronicles Cowan’s story and traces the evolution of youth engagement programs from the Progressive Era through the end of the twentieth century while also exploring broader themes of civil rights, juvenile justice, and the major social and political events that shaped the century.
