DOCSLIB.ORG

We Make the Road by Walking

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
We Make the Road by Walking Edited by Brenda Bell. John Gaventa. and John Peters Myles Horton and Paulo Freire We Make the Road by Walking Conversations on Education and Social Change Temple University Press Philadelphia Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122 Copyright © 1990 by Highlander Research and Education Cemer All rights reserved Published 1990 Primed in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Primed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984 @) Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Horton, Miles, 1905 We make the road by walking: conversations on education and social change I Myles Horton and Paulo Freire; edited by Brenda Bell,John Gavema, and John Peters. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISB N 0-87722-771-3 I. Education - Philosophy. 2. Social change.. 3. Freire, Paulo, 1921.­ Views on social action. 4. Horton, Myles, 1905.­ Views on social action. 5. Adult education - Social aspects - United States. 6. Education - Social aspects - Brazil. 7. Highlander Folk School (Monteagle, Tenn.) I. Bell, Brenda. II. Gaventa, John, 1949· III. Peters, John Marshall, 1941. IV. Title. LB885·H64W4 1990 374-dc2o 90-36005 Contents Vll Preface Xlll Acknowledgments xv Editors' Introduction CHAPTER 1 Introduction 3 "We make the road by walking" CHAPTER 2 Formative Years 9 "I was always getting in trouble for reading in school" 24 "Reading has to be a loving event" 38 "I couldn't use all this book learning" 55 "I always am in the beginning, as you" 67 "Pockets of hope": Literacy and citizenship CHAPTER 3 Ideas 97 "Without practice there's no knowledge" 102 "Is it possible just to teach biology?" 109 "I've always been ambivalent about charismatic leaders" 115 "The difference between education and orgamzmg" 128 "My expertise is in knowing not to be an expert" 13 1 "My respect for the soul of the culture" 138 "I learned a lot from being a father" CHAPTER 4 Educational Practice 145 "The more the people become themselves, the better the democracy" 163 "Highlander is a weaving of many colors" 180 "Conflicts are the midwife of conciousness" CHAPTER 5 Education and Social Change 199 "You have to bootleg education" 2 15 "The people begin to get their history into their hands, and then the role of education changes" CHAPTER 6 Reflections 227 "Peaks and valleys and hills and hollers" 239 "It's necessary to laugh with the people" 248 Epilogue 25 1 Index Preface Myles Horton and Paulo Freire knew about each other more than twenty years ago. Paulo read part of the growing literature about Myles and Highlander, and Myles read Paulo's early works. Both men explained to their admirers how their ideas were similar and how they were different. The two actually talked with each other for the firsttime in 1973, when asked to partici­ pate in an adult education conference held in Chicago. They met again in similar circumstances in New York and California and at a conference in Nicaragua. But these meetings were for other people and other occa­ sions, affording Myles and Paulo little opportunity to confirm whateach had grown to believe about the other man and his ideas. However, when they met at a con­ ference in California in the summer of 19B7, the time had come for them to talk, to explore ideas, to get to Vll Preface know one another-really know each other. It was also time to let the world in on what each man, whose work was already well known, had to say to each other. Paulo came to Los Angeles to participate in a con­ fe rence in honor of his late wife, Elza. Myles was visiting his daughter there and was convalescing fo llowing an operation for colon cancer. Paulo asked him to consider "speaking a book." Paulo, as people familiar with his writings know, had used this method to get his own ideas into print. Myles, not known for publishing his own ideas, characteristically let go a hearty laugh, per­ haps because he saw the irony of the situation, but more likely because he immediately fe lt the joy that such an experience would bring to both men. Others around them, including Sue Thrasher of Highlander, saw the historical possibilities, and went to work to bring the idea to fruition. Brenda Bell knew of John Peters's interest in bring­ ing Paulo to the University of Te nnessee as a visit­ ing scholar, and through Brenda he learned about Sue's desire to bring Paulo to Highlander. With the help of our colleagues at the university and at High­ lander, financial arrangements were made, tentative travel plans and a schedule were laid on, and anticipa­ tion began to build. Soon a small group of Highlander and university staffmembers began to meet and plan a week of events that would center around conversations between Paulo and Myles. The group planned symposia and classes at the university for students and faculty, and two meet- Vlll Preface ings at Highlander for community activists and other friends of Highlander. Public demand for time with Paulo and Myles was great, but the planners managed to keep the main event intact, and the conversations began. The clear, cool days in early December 19B7 were generous to the mountains around Highlander, allow­ ing participants to converse on the idyllic Highlander hilltop where Myles lived. Paulo particularly enjoyed occasionally gazing through the expansive window to the long, wide view beyond Myles's hearth. They could relax, explore their histories, and feel the texture and depth of each other's experiences as they grew closer as good friends. Their conversations soon became like a dance between old companions accustomed to the subtle leads and responses by one, then the other. Members of the Highlander staffand friends occa­ sionally participated in the conversation, tugging on the dialogue, sometimes clarifying a differencein ideas, sometimes netting an elusive thought in need of illustra­ tion, but never breaking the rhythm of the conversation. Myles, Paulo, and the "third party" conversationalists were recorded on audio tape, the tape was transcribed verbatim, and the long editing process began. As editors, we have worked to give the conversations some structure and have presented them in a series of chapters that are very close to the order in which the themes emerged in the conversations. However, we tried to preserve the subtlety of each man's critique of the other's ideas, the immediacy of their dialogue, the IX Preface occasional discontinuities in conversational themes, the spontaneity of their remarks, and the cognitive leaps re­ vealed in their conversations. We wanted others to feel a part of this remarkable conversation, as we did when we read the transcripts, and to experience what Paulo frequently referred to as the "sensualism of reading, full of feelings, of emotions, of tastes." The book is divided into six chapters, containing sections of conversation that focus on distinct topics. Each section is headed by a quote from the text, chosen by the editors to represent what fo llows and to retain the lyrical quality of the conversation itself. The book is perhaps best read as a series of conversations rather than a tightly structured whole. The "Introduction" contains a discussion between Myles and Paulo about why they decided to speak a book and how they should go about it, setting the tone fo r several days of dialogue that fo llowed. "Formative Years" is about their youth, their families, their cultural settings, and some of their early experiences, such as Myles's work in the Citizenship Schools. This chapter highlights the connection between the men's biogra­ phies and the nature of their experiences and practice. The next chapter is about their ideas, many of which have been shared by Myles and Paulo in other places. For example, they consider whether education can be neutral, how the concept of authority fits into their thinking and practice, their view of charismatic leader­ ship, and what they see as differences between educat­ ing and organizing. This chapter is richly spiced with stories and anecdotes. Many have been told before, but x Prefa ce never as they unfold here in the interaction of the two storytellers. [n "Educational Practice," Myles and Paulo discuss specific features of their work in communities, work­ shops, and classrooms in a variety of cultural settings. They describe the role of the educator, intervention in the learning experiences of others, and the relationship of theory and practice in the context of adult learning. Again, this chapter is amply illustrated with stories and examples, most expressing common ground in the two men's experiences. "Education and Social Change" is at once abstract and filled with concrete examples of the struggles of both men to change systems. Perhaps the clearest di­ vergence of their views is illustrated here, when Paulo and Myles discuss the pros and cons of working from inside systems as opposed to effecting change from out­ side. Examples from Latin America and from North America illustrate the differences in cultural contexts that help account for their different thoughts and strate­ gies. The final chapter, "Reflections," is a look back to the people, literature, and events that influenced their thinking and their work. It includes a sweeping dis­ cussion of broader ideas and worldly matters. This chapter also captures much of what is brilliantly simple about the two men's thinking and how that thinking was shaped by more than one hundred years of combined educational practice. Two years after the conversations took place, Myles and Paulo were reunited at Highlander, where Paulo Xl came to review the manuscript draft and.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions: White Anti-Racism, New Abolitionism & Intersectional Anti-White Irish Diasporic Nationalism
    Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions: White Anti-Racism, New Abolitionism & Intersectional Anti-White Irish Diasporic Nationalism By Matthew W. Horton A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education and the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Dr. Na’ilah Nasir, Chair Dr. Daniel Perlstein Dr. Keith Feldman Summer 2019 Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions Matthew W. Horton 2019 ABSTRACT Working Against Racism from White Subject Positions: White Anti-Racism, New Abolitionism & Intersectional Anti-White Irish Diasporic Nationalism by Matthew W. Horton Doctor of Philosophy in Education and the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory University of California, Berkeley Professor Na’ilah Nasir, Chair This dissertation is an intervention into Critical Whiteness Studies, an ‘additional movement’ to Ethnic Studies and Critical Race Theory. It systematically analyzes key contradictions in working against racism from a white subject positions under post-Civil Rights Movement liberal color-blind white hegemony and "Black Power" counter-hegemony through a critical assessment of two major competing projects in theory and practice: white anti-racism [Part 1] and New Abolitionism [Part 2]. I argue that while white anti-racism is eminently practical, its efforts to hegemonically rearticulate white are overly optimistic, tend toward renaturalizing whiteness, and are problematically dependent on collaboration with people of color. I further argue that while New Abolitionism has popularized and advanced an alternative approach to whiteness which understands whiteness as ‘nothing but oppressive and false’ and seeks to ‘abolish the white race’, its ultimately class-centered conceptualization of race and idealization of militant nonconformity has failed to realize effective practice.
    [Show full text]
  • A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement
    Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 12-1994 A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement Michelle Margaret Viera Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Viera, Michelle Margaret, "A Summary of the Contributions of Four Key African American Female Figures of the Civil Rights Movement" (1994). Master's Theses. 3834. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3834 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A SUMMARY OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FOUR KEY AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE FIGURES OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT by Michelle Margaret Viera A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of History Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 1994 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My appreciation is extended to several special people; without their support this thesis could not have become a reality. First, I am most grateful to Dr. Henry Davis, chair of my thesis committee, for his encouragement and sus­ tained interest in my scholarship. Second, I would like to thank the other members of the committee, Dr. Benjamin Wilson and Dr. Bruce Haight, profes­ sors at Western Michigan University. I am deeply indebted to Alice Lamar, who spent tireless hours editing and re-typing to ensure this project was completed.
    [Show full text]
  • More Than Mrs Robinson: Citizenship Schools in Lowcountry South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, 1957-1970
    More Than Mrs Robinson: Citizenship Schools in Lowcountry South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, 1957-1970 (A Dissertation submitted in requirement for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy, The University of Nottingham, October 2009) Clare Russell 1 Abstract The first ―citizenship school‖ (a literacy class that taught adults to read and write in order that they could register to vote) was established by Highlander Folk School of Monteagle, Tennessee on Johns Island, South Carolina in 1957. Within three years, the schools were extended across the neighboring Sea Islands, to mainland Charleston and to Savannah, Georgia. In 1961, after Highlander faced legal challenges to its future, it transferred the schools to the fledgling Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who extended the program across the South. Historians have made far-reaching claims for the successes and benefits of the schools. For example, they claim that they recruited inexperienced but committed people and raised them to the status of community leaders; that they encouraged civic cooperation and political activism and formed the ―foundation on which the civil rights movement‖ was built and they argue that the schools were an unprecedented opportunity for women to develop as activists and as leaders. Yet, they base these claims on certain myths about the schools: that the first teacher Bernice Robinson was an inexperienced and uneducated teacher, that her class was a blueprint for similar ones and that Highlander bequeathed its educational philosophy to the SCLC program. They make claims about female participation without analyzing the gender composition of classes. This dissertation challenges these assumptions by comparing and contrasting programs established in Lowcountry South Carolina and in Savannah.
    [Show full text]
  • “We Shall Overcome and the Southern Black Freedom Struggle”
    “We Shall Overcome and the Southern Black Freedom Struggle” David J. Garrow On October 22, 1945, 1,000 members of Local 15 of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers Union (FTA) went on strike at an American Tobacco Company cigar factory in Charleston, SC, seeking to increase their pay to 30 cents-per-hour. The biracial group of strikers began picketing outside the brick factory building, and in later years surviving participants would recall two African American women, Delphine Brown and Lucille Simmons, as important song leaders who led the strikers in singing. Simmons was a choir member at Jerusalem Baptist Church, and fellow union members would remember her singing a well-known hymn, “I’ll Be All Right,” and altering it to give voice to the striking workers’ own aspirations: “We Will Overcome.”1 1. Robert Shelton, “Rights Song Has Own History of Integration,” New York Times, 23 July 1963, at 21; Robert Sherman, “Sing a Song of Freedom,” Saturday Review, 28 September 1963, at 65-67, 81; “Moment of History,” The New Yorker, 27 March 1965, at 37-39; Josh Dunson, Freedom In the Air: Song Movements of the Sixties (International Publishers, 1965), at 29; Lillie Mae Marsh in Guy and Candie Carawan, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle—Songs of the Freedom Movement (Oak Publications, 1968), at 138; Bernice Johnson Reagon, “Songs of the Civil Rights Movement 1955-1965: A Study in Cultural History,” Ph.D. dissertation, Howard 2 The strike ended without success in April 1946, but one month later, two participants, Anna Lee Bonneau and Evelyn Risher, traveled to the Highlander University, 1975, at 65, 68-75; Caryle Murphy, “The Rise of a Rights Anthem,” Washington Post, 17 January 1988, at G1, G11; Noah Adams, “Tracing the History of the Song ‘We Shall Overcome,’” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 15 January 1999; Robert R.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2019/20 “We Are Here, Standing Strong, in Our Rightful Place.”
    Annual Report 2019/20 “ We are here, standing strong, in our rightful place.” Over the last two years, Highlander has expand our reach to tens of thousands of new is alive and well, and we have been able to persevered in the face of the intersecting and returning Highlander friends and family. thrive because we are held up by a community crises of white supremacist violence, a global Highlander’s operations continued, providing of care. pandemic, climate disaster, the failures of administrative infrastructure for a robust the state, the rise of authoritarianism, police fiscal sponsorship program, offering a range violence, and the many other interlocking forms of movement accompaniment and support of oppression that impact our staff and the services to the uprisings of Summer 2020, and people we serve. giving extra attention to building democracy in (and beyond) election season and attending to After the March 2019 fire, the outpouring of capital improvements of Highlander’s land and support from Highlander’s movement family buildings. across the region, the United States, and globe meant that we could focus on recovering even After the fire, we shared a message inspired by while continuing to welcome thousands of the song, “Solid as a Rock,” with our supporters: people to Highlander for educational work “We are here, standing strong, in our rightful and radical hospitality. The fire required us to place.” That message remains true today. The quickly adapt and practice resilience, a posture fire that destroyed our main office did not that effectively prepared us for early 2020’s destroy us or our work.
    [Show full text]
  • Parker, Betty J. TITLE Myles Horton (1905-90) of Highlander:Adult Educator and Southern Activist
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 336 615 CE 059 031 AUTHOR Parker, Franklin; Parker, Betty J. TITLE Myles Horton (1905-90) of Highlander:Adult Educator and Southern Activist. PUB DATE 91 NOTE 17p. PUB TYPE W.storical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE ME01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Activism; Adult Education; Biographies; *Black History; *Civil Rights; ConflictResolution; *Folk Schools; Labor Relations; Racial Discrimination; Racial Relations; *Social Change;Social Influences; Unions; Voting Rights IDENTIFIERS *Highlander Folk School TN; *Horton (Myles) ABSTRACT As a leader of social change in theSouth, Myles Horton (1) unionized southern textile workersand coal miners and advanced civil rights through hisHighlander school;(2) conducted Highlander workshops for black leaders; (3)first popularized the song "We Shall Overcome"; and (4) initiatedCitizenship Schools to help blacks register to vote. Asa youth, he questioned racial inequality. He was dismayed at unfairlabor practices in a Tennessee factory and urged workers to organize.Horton wanted to create a school that would serve poor people inlabor and racial strife and help them to gain freedom, dignity,and justice. Studying sociology at the University of Chicago in 1930-31,Horton recognized that conflict redirected tnin'e:ing. HighlanderFolk School, inspired by Danish folk schools, was opened inMonteagle, Tennessee in 1932. Horton's wife Zilphia introducedmany cultural programs at Highlander. During 1953-61,as Highlander's civil rights activities increased, so did segregationist attackson the school. Horton is remembered for his efforts to fight fora batter world.(A "Myles Horton Chronology 1905-1990" anda 35-item bibliography are Amcluded.) (NLA) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRSare the best that can be made from the original document.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Rights Done Right a Tool for Teaching the Movement TEACHING TOLERANCE
    Civil Rights Done Right A Tool for Teaching the Movement TEACHING TOLERANCE Table of Contents Introduction 2 STEP ONE Self Assessment 3 Lesson Inventory 4 Pre-Teaching Reflection 5 STEP TWO The "What" of Teaching the Movement 6 Essential Content Coverage 7 Essential Content Coverage Sample 8 Essential Content Areas 9 Essential Content Checklist 10 Essential Content Suggestions 12 STEP THREE The "How" of Teaching the Movement 14 Implementing the Five Essential Practices 15 Implementing the Five Essential Practices Sample 16 Essential Practices Checklist 17 STEP FOUR Planning for Teaching the Movement 18 Instructional Matrix, Section 1 19 Instructional Matrix, Section 1 Sample 23 Instructional Matrix, Section 2 27 Instructional Matrix, Section 2 Sample 30 STEP FIVE Teaching the Movement 33 Post-Teaching Reflection 34 Quick Reference Guide 35 © 2016 Teaching Tolerance CIVIL RIGHTS DONE RIGHT // 1 TEACHING TOLERANCE Civil Rights Done Right A Tool for Teaching the Movement Not long ago, Teaching Tolerance issued Teaching the Movement, a report evaluating how well social studies standards in all 50 states support teaching about the modern civil rights movement. Our report showed that few states emphasize the movement or provide classroom support for teaching this history effectively. We followed up these findings by releasingThe March Continues: Five Essential Practices for Teaching the Civil Rights Movement, a set of guiding principles for educators who want to improve upon the simplified King-and-Parks-centered narrative many state standards offer. Those essential practices are: 1. Educate for empowerment. 2. Know how to talk about race. 3. Capture the unseen. 4. Resist telling a simple story.
    [Show full text]
  • Photography and African American Education, 1957–1972
    “A Matter of Building Bridges”: Photography and African American Education, 1957–1972 Connie H. Choi Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2019 © 2019 Connie H. Choi All rights reserved ABSTRACT “A Matter of Building Bridges”: Photography and African American Education, 1957–1972 Connie H. Choi This dissertation examines the use of photography in civil rights educational efforts from 1957 to 1972. Photography played an important role in the long civil rights movement, resulting in major legal advances and greater public awareness of discriminatory practices against people of color. For most civil rights organizations and many African Americans, education was seen as the single most important factor in breaking down social and political barriers, and efforts toward equal education opportunities dramatically increased following the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. My dissertation therefore investigates photography’s distinct role in documenting the activities of three educational initiatives—the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, the Mississippi Freedom Schools formed the summer of 1964, and the Black Panther liberation schools established in Oakland, California, in 1969—to reveal the deep and savvy understanding of civil rights and Black Power organizations of the relationship between educational opportunities and political power. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations
    [Show full text]
  • Why Did the Montgomery Bus Boycott Succeed?
    Montgomery Bus Boycott Lesson Plan Central Historical Question: Why did the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed? Materials: • Montgomery Bus Boycott Quicktime Movie: http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/rosaparks/ • Copies of Montgomery Bus Boycott Timeline • Montgomery Bus Boycott Document Packets: Documents A-E Plan of Instruction: 1. IntroDuce Montgomery Inquiry by watching the viDeo on HTM: http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/rosaparks/ Why did the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed? 2. RounD 1: Break into three groups. HanD out timelines anD textbook account (Document A). Ask stuDents to reaD account, fill out graphic organizer, anD recorD their first claim. Before moving on, have stuDents share their first claims. 3. RounD 2: HanD out Robinson anD Rustin Documents (Documents B anD C). StuDents reaD text, answer guiDing questions (optional) anD fill out graphic organizer. StuDents recorD seconD claim regarDing the historical question. Share out claims. 4. RounD 3: HanD out HighlanDer anD MLK Documents (Documents D anD E). StuDents reaD text, answer guiDing questions (optional) anD fill out graphic. StuDents recorD seconD claim regarDing the historical question. Share out claims. 5. Whole class Discussion: • Why DiD the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeeD? • To what extent was Rosa Parks responsible for its success? • DiD your answer to the central historical question change? If so, how? • What eviDence from the Documents causeD you to revise your hypotheses? Montgomery Bus Boycott Citations: Buggey J., Danzer, G., Mitsakos, C., & Risinger C. (1984) America! America! (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman & Co.) p. 653. "A letter sent to Mayor Gayle," in Jo Ann Robinson’s The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It, (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1987), viii.
    [Show full text]
  • Justfaith Week 12
    JustFaith Week 12 These documents are for registered groups to use during the program year, per the licensing agreement. Do not copy, share, or forward without permission. Copyright 2014 by JustFaith Ministries • www.justfaith.org • 502-429-0865 Note to Co-Facilitators This week we continue our journey into the difficult dialogue about racism. Understanding racism is difficult even for people who do not experience it as its immediate victims. These can be challenging weeks for both you and your group, so be prepared for some resistance. To that end, it might be helpful to remember that the way a great many of us process a new idea is first by resisting. We heartily recommend that you be patient with individuals who express dissatisfaction with or rejection of the author’s arguments; it is not uncommon. But, by way of encouragement, it is also not uncommon for people to alter their perspectives— sometimes significantly—in due time. How many of us can remember arguing one position in a conversation or informal debate only to find ourselves later, after some thought and integration, arguing the other position? People do change, but it takes time. (That’s why JustFaith is 30 weeks long!) So, allow for disagreement and differing views; the walk to justice is just that – a walk. Each of us travels at our own pace. The readings for this week include a segment in Cloud of Witnesses that highlights the life and work of Fannie Lou Hamer, a woman of great courage, inspiration and leadership who became a nationally recognized leader of the civil rights movement.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 6 “Are You a Communist?” Highlander 1957
    Chapter 6 Remember the teakettle. It sings even when up to its neck in hot water. Helen Keller “Are You a Communist?” Highlander 1957 During the Labor Day weekend of 1957, the Highlander Folk School of Monteagle, Ten- nessee, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary by sponsoring a conference entitled "The South Looking Ahead." In 1954, the Supreme Court had issued its famous Brown v. Board of Educa- tion decision, unanimously ruling that racially separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. The following years, 1955 and 1956, saw the successful Montgomery bus boycott and the rise of a charismatic, powerful young black leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. All of these events pointed to a growing civil rights movement that Highlander itself had fostered. Maurice McCrackin supported Highlander's work for unions and for civil rights and thought highly of its founder and director, Myles Horton. He helped Horton solicit funds in the Cincinnati area, welcoming his yearly visits. Horton and McCrackin had much in common. They were the same age, and both were inspired by their Presbyterian backgrounds, their youth- ful YMCA activities, and other common experiences to develop variations on the kind of social program Jane Addams had established at Hull House. While McCrackin's urban, church-related version was taking shape in the West End of Cincinnati, Horton's secular, rural version was evolving as an educational center in Tennessee for farmers and industrial workers. Both men were interested in facilitating the creation of a new, more just social order.' From its beginnings in the early 1930s, Highlander was dedicated to racial justice and integration, although it was originally established as a labor school, fostering democratic unions and assisting in the training of union leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • Your Name Here
    FROM COOK TO COMMUNITY LEADER: THE WOMEN OF HIGHLANDER RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER by COLLEEN MCDERMOTT (Under the Direction of Thomas Valentine) ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of the women of Highlander and how these women influenced not only the curriculum but also the institutional structure of Highlander. This study sought to determine the roles undertaken by women at Highlander and the ways in which these roles were gendered. The theoretical framework guiding this study was from Robnett (1997) who, after analyzing women‘s roles in the Civil Rights Movement, developed the concept of bridge leader in order to explain the critical role of women in the Civil Rights Movement which she suggests significantly contributed to the movement‘s success. Like women in the Civil Rights Movement, women‘s roles at Highlander are largely unknown and under analyzed. In order to uncover and understand these roles, a qualitative study of the women of Highlander was conducted. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews with 30 women who worked at Highlander in the decades from the 1940s to today, the correspondence of women who worked at Highlander in the 1930s and 1940s, and the analysis of a 1994 women‘s workshop, I found seven roles undertaken by the women staff at Highlander. These were cook, cultural worker, educator, caregiver, researcher, adviser and director. In addition to these roles, interviews with the women of Highlander revealed another emerging theme related to conflicted relationships which required further analysis. Categories of analysis developed by Maher and Tetreault‘s (2001) study of feminist classrooms informed the analysis of Highlander‘s conflicted relationships.
    [Show full text]