LIFE: Boy Scouts in tumult
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Not originally published in LIFE. Boy Scouts, New York, 1971. (John Shearer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Click here to see the full collection at LIFE.com - 2/6
boyscouts
Not originally published in LIFE. Boy Scouts, New York, 1971. (John Shearer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Click here to see the full collection at LIFE.com - 3/6
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Caption from LIFE. "Dexter White (not pictured), leader of Milwaukee's 'Super Troop,' feels that camping in a vacant lot is better than waiting months for a trip to the country. 'Besides,' says White, 'these kids can relate to urban camping. It's home turf.'" (John Shearer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
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boyscouts
Not originally published in LIFE. Boy Scout, Milwaukee, 1971. (John Shearer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Click here to see the full collection at LIFE.com In its June 1971 issue, in which a handful of Shearer’s photographs first ran, LIFE made it plain that the Boy Scouts were at something of a crossroads at the dawn of the Seventies. In an article titled, “Scouting Blazes a Trail Into the Ghetto,” the magazine told its millions of readers: The Boy Scouts of America marched into the 1960s still duty-bound to knot-tying, overnight hikes and helping little old ladies — and woefully out of step with a majority of the nation’s restive youth. They had no handbook solutions for the alienation of suburban boys or the hostility of ghetto kids to the traditionally white, middle-class scouting programs. Then, during the riotous summer of 1967 in Cincinnati’s Basin section, a Southern white Scout organizer unexpectedly appeared at the barricades. He risked snipers’ bullets to rescue injured blacks and mediated a peace between City Hall and the ghetto. Finally, he got permission or a militant street gang to sponsor three Scout troops, and recruited ghetto types — many of whom could not have repeated the Scouts’ Oath with a straight face — to help get things going. What might be called the radicalization of the Boy Scouts had begun. The Cincinnati experience became a watershed in the movement’s search for a new constituency. City boys now learn to read subway maps and practice rat-bite cures instead if studying terrain maps and snake-bite remedies. Brotherhood in scouting has taken on a new meaning. But despite the highest membership ever — 4.6 million [Note: It's fewer than 3 million today] — scouting still suffers from a “ghetto gap.” Only 16% of boys eligible in urban areas join, as compared to 25% elsewhere. But the percentages are rising. Accompanying the new urban emphasis is a new liberalism in the ranks: women scoutmasters, protest, long hair and a program encouraging boys to get a “a natural high” from scouting rather than to get stoned on drugs. The old motto, “Be Prepared,” has been replaced with an unofficial new one: “Be Relevant.” Forty years later, the Boy Scouts of America are once again face to face with that simple admonition — and complicated challenge. — Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com Related Topics: 1971, black and white photography, Boy Scouts, Chicago, John Shearer, Los Angeles, New York City Related Galleries Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images '40s LIFE in the Snow: Photos From the Great Blizzard of 1947 California Boy Scouts, 1971 '70s LIFE With the Boy Scouts, 1971: Photos From an Era of Change Zsa Zsa Gabor with her dog, Farouk, California, 1951. '50s LIFE With Zsa Zsa: Rare Photos of ‘Another … Photo from the streets of Watts, Calif., 1966. '60s The Fire Last Time: LIFE in Watts, 1966 An ornate helmet adorned with semi-nude figures sits in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. '30s Art House: LIFE at the Met Museum, 1939 Howard Sochurek—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images '60s LIFE and Civil Rights: Anatomy of a Protest, Virginia, 1960 - 5/6
boyscouts
Not originally published in LIFE. Boy Scouts, New York, 1971. (John Shearer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Click here to see the full collection at LIFE.com - 6/6
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Caption from LIFE. "Cub Scout Tony Talbot (10) ... from Canoga Park joins a potted-plant brigade to help restore Los Angeles's Lime Kiln Canyon Park, ravaged last year by fire." (John Shearer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Click here to see the full collection at LIFE.com
On the anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America (Feb. 8, 1910), and with the BSA so prominently in the news, LIFE.com presents a gallery of photos chronicling the ways in which the organization tried to respond to the cultural tumult of an earlier era: the 1970s.