ALUMNUS: DR. AARON FOUNTAIN SPRING 2026 | CASE STUDIES


An historian of modern U.S. social and political movements, Aaron G. Fountain, Jr.'s work focuses on youth activism, education reform, and government surveillance. A graduate of Winthrop University who later earned a Ph.D. in history from Indiana University Bloomington, Fountain studies how young people, especially teenagers, have


influenced political change in the twentieth century. His most recent major scholarly work is the 2025 book High School Students Unite: Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America, published by the University of North Carolina Press and has been named a finalist for the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History. The book examines high school activism in the


1960s and 1970s, showing how teenagers organized walkouts, protests, and campaigns demanding educational reforms and constitutional rights. Using archival research, interviews, oral histories, and FBI records, Fountain demonstrates that high school students were significant political actors whose activism helped reshape American education and prompted increased school surveillance and security policies. Winthrop welcomed Dr. Fountain back “home” during his talk on March 11


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attended by his former professors, students, and guests from the community. The program was sponsored by the the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy, the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, Religion, and Legal Studies, the Department of History, the Peace, Justice, and Conflict Resolution program, and the McNair Scholars program. Fountain is currently developing a second research project that explores the political and cultural history of teenagers’ involvement in the Vietnam War era across multiple countries.


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