An Analysis of Selected Programs for the Training of Civil Rights and Community Leaders in the South. By- Horton: Aimee I
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REPOR TRESUMES ED 011 058 24 AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PROGRAMS FOR THE TRAINING OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS IN THE SOUTH. BY- HORTON: AIMEE I. FISK UNIV., NASHVILLE, TENN.' REPORT NUMBER CRP-S-291 PUB DATE JUN 66 REPORT NUMBER BR-5-8269 EDRS PRICE MF -$O.27 HC-$7.44 186P. DESCRIPTORS- EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, *COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, *FREEDOM ORGANIZATIONS, INTERGROUP EDUCATION, INTEGRATION STUDIES, *LEADERSHIP TRAINING, *NEGRO LEADERSHIP, LEADER PARTICIPATION, SOUTHERN COMMUNITY, *INSTITUTES (TRAINING PROGRAMS), CIVIL RIGHTS, RACIAL INTEGRATION, WORKSHOPS, NASHVILLE THREE EXAMPLES OF RACIALLY INTEGRATED, RESIDENTIAL ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS CONDUCTED FOR THE TRAINING OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS IN THE SOUTH WERE EXAMINED. THE PROGRAMS STUDIED WERE (1)A 1955 WORKSHOP ON SCHOOL DESEGREGATION, ONE OF A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS DEVELOPED BY THE HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL, AN ADULT EDUCATION CENTER IN RURAL TENNESSEE,(2) THE 1965 ANNUAL INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS CONDUCTED BY THE RACE RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION AT FISK UNIVERSITY, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, AND (3)A 1965 CITIZENSHIP SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING WORKSHOP SPONSORED BY THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE, THE CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION HEADED BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING. EACH PROGRAM WAS EXAMINED AS A POTENTIAL MODEL FOR POSSIBLE USE BY INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SOUTH CONCERNED WITH DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMS. THE DATA ON WHICH THE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF EACH OF THE THREE PROGRAMS WAS BASED DEALT WITH PROGRAM OBJECTIVES, EXAMPLES OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES USED TO OBTAIN THESE OBJECTIVES, STUDENT AND STAFF EVALUATION OF PROGRAMS, AND THE APPARENT EFFECT AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROGRAMS AS VIEWED BY THE PARTICIPANTS. THE FIRST AND THIRD OF THE THREE PROGRAMS WERE JUDGED TO HAVE POTENTIAL USE AS MODELS IN OTHER INSTITUTIONS. (GD) U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDL:CATIONPND WELFARE, 111 Office of Educaticn This document has been reproducedex;. ctly as received from person or the organization originating it.Points of viewor opinions 00 514t0.0do not necosariiy represent offisiaiOffice of Education Lf1 Pr6:3 of r("pcy. CD r--1 Q Title: AN ANALYSISOF SELECTED PROGRAM FOR THE TRAININGOF 0.03.1, RIGEL'S Lt-1 AND COMMUNII: 'Y LEADERSIN THE SOUTH Investigator: Aimee I.Horton Institution: FiskUniversity, Nashville,Tennessee Project Number: 5-291 Duration:June, 1965 toJune, 1966 TABLE OF CORTIRS Page INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem CO Objectives LrN 0 (7) Related Research --I (?' . t Procedures CD C:3 I. TIE HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOLWORKSHOPS ON SCHOOL DESEGREGATION WITH EMPTASIS ON THE1955WORKSHOP Institutional Background: The School thatwas Always Integrated Description and Analysis of the1955 Workshop, "The SouthPrepares to Carry Out the SupremeCourt Decision Outlawing Segregationin the Public Schools" What was Valued, Whatwas Learned: The Residential Experience The Effects of the 1955 Workshop The School Desegregation.Workshop as a Leadership TrainingModel II. THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUALINSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS, 1965, if OUT EDUCATION PROJECTOF TEE UNITED CHURCH OPCHRIST /IND FISK Uit ni ITY 32 Historical Background of the 1965Institute Description and Analysis of the 1965Institute, "Human Rights in the Great Society" Evaluation of the Institute byStaff and Participants Effects of the Institute:What Institute Members Said They Would Do and Did Critique of the Instituteas a Leadership Training Model III. A WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS INTHE CITI HIP EDUCATION PROGRAM OP THE SouTum. CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CO CE, 1965 OOOOO . 92 Background and Development of theCitizenship Education Program Description and Analysis of theAugust, 1965 Teacher Training Workshop TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page Reactions to the Workshop: "I have beeninspired enough to put it before thepeople" Follow-up Data: That ParticipantsDid when TheyReturned Home The Workshop for CitizenshipSchool Teachersas a Model: "The educationalprocess has begun long before" CONCLUSION 140 BIBLIOGRAPHY 152 APPENDIX 153 a INTRODUCTION The Problem Up until World War II, the "derivative and dependent"iNegroleadership, as sociologist Gunnar Myrdal referred to it, continued to "represent"the Southern Negro community in its dealings with the Southern whitecommunity. As the segregated system began to be challenged, the "Uncle Tom" leadership which had served that system was also challenged. And "since the Ifty 17, 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing the 'separate but equal'doctrine of race relations," a current student of Southern Negro leadership concludes, "the Uncle Tom leader has lost face among Negroes, and his influenceamong white men of 2 power has diminished proportionally." Since 1954, the actions of Negroes themselves- -theMontgomery bus boycott, the Southwide student sit-ins, the prolonged protest demonstrations in Alabama and Mississippi- -and the strong affirmation ofthese actions by the Federal Govern- ment in the form of major civil rightslegislation, court decisions and changes in public policy have contributed greatly toward setting aside the systemas well as remnants of the old Negro leadership. What remains to be accomplished, however, is perhaps as difficult,or more difficult, than what has already been accomplished. In every Southern community there is an urgent need fornew, independent and democratic kinds of Negro leadership. These new leaders must be able to mobilize local Negro support to pushon in the tough job of changing persisting segregated patterns and discriminatory practices.At the same time, they must be able to participate effectively with responsible white community leadership in the solution ofcommon problems of community living. 1 In examining Negro leadership in the South, Myrdal observed that "practically all the economic and politicalpowers are concentrated in the white caste" and that "the small amount of influence, status andwealth that there is in the Negro community is de:ivative and dependent," An American Manna (Harper &Bros., 111 1944), chap. 37,p. 770). 2 Daniel C. Thompson, The Nero Leadership Class (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice - Said., Inc., 1963),p. 166. 2 IWhat the newly changed social situation in the South requires,it seems clear, is educational programming to develop new kinds of localleadership--bothamong Negroes and their whitecounterparts. Objectives The present study is concerned with examining three examples ofracially inte- grated residential adult educationprograms for the training of civil rights and community leaders in the South. These programs differ in theirsponsorship, clientele, and educational objectives and in the kinds of learningexperiences, including residential learningexperiences, offered for achieving theseob- jectives. The purpose of the study isto examine each as a potentialmodel, in whole or in part, for otherinstitutions and organizations inthe South con- cerned with developing leadershiptraining programs. The study of each program will be confined to describing andanalyzing: 1) objectivesas defined by staff and participants; 2)examples of the learning experiences utilized to obtainthese objectives, includingresidential learning experiences; 3) evaluation of theprogram by students and staff; and 4) apparent effect and effectiveness of theInstitute as viewed by participants. The first of these programs to be examined is a 1955 Workshopon School De- segregation, one of a series ofworkshops developed, beginning in 1953,by the Highlander Folk School,an independent residential adult education center located in rural Tennessee. The second program is the 1965Annual Institute 3 of Race Relations, foundedin 1942 by the Race RelationsDeprtrtment of the American MissionaryAssociation and located on thecampus of Fisk University in Nashville,Tennessee.The third example to beexamined isa 1965 Citizen- ship School Teacher TrainingWorkshop sponsored by the SouthernChristian Leadership Conference,a religiously-oriented civil rightsorganization headed by Dr. Martin LutherKing, and held at a church-supportedcenter in rum' Georgia. In the firstprogram to be examined, participantswere Southern Negroand white leaders of a varietyof socio-economic backgrounds, allactively working on problems ofdesegregation in their several communities. In the second, participantswere largely middle-class Negro and whiteteachers, ministers, churchwomen andothers, "leaders and potentialleaders" from communities of theNorth and South. Participants in thethird of thethree programs includeda small number of concerned whitesbut were largely working-class Negroes from DeepSouth communities with a desire tohelp their neighbors achieve "first-classcitizenship." The curriculum for theDesegregation, Workshop was problem-centered,moving from problemdefinition to a consideration ofresources to the development of specific plans forcommunity action. The Institutecurriculumwas, in large part, academic withemphasis on lectures by specialiststo givepar- ticipants a bcad orientation torace relations problems andprograms for change.The Workshopfor Citizenship School Teacherstook participants step-by-step throughthe process of preparing them fortheir new rolesas teacher-leaders. 4 In each case, the experience in integratedresidential living was considered by curriculum planners to be ofsome importance, but the several settings and efforts to plan activities relatedto that experience variedconsiderably. Related Research There has been no previous recearch ea the three residential adulteducation programs for training community leaders whichare the