Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Summer 2017 Liberty's Hidden History: The Dorchester Center and Citizenship Education in Southeast Georgia during the 1960s Amy Blanton Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons Recommended Citation Blanton, Amy, "Liberty's Hidden History: The Dorchester Center and Citizenship Education in Southeast Georgia during the 1960s" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1633. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1633 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LIBERTY’S HIDDEN HISTORY: THE DORCHESTER CENTER AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA DURING THE 1960S. by AMY BLANTON (Under the Direction of Daniel Chapman) ABSTRACT The Citizenship Education Program held at the Dorchester Center in Midway, Georgia was an adult literacy program piloted by the Highlander Folk School and eventually transferred to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The purpose of the program was to teach literacy skills to black adults so they could pass their state’s voter registration test. Believing that first class citizenship could only be achieved through the ballot, and that the ballot was the key to changes in the lives and welfare of Southern blacks, ordinary citizens traveled to Dorchester for weeklong workshops on how to teach reading and writing to others. Once students completed the training, they went back into their communities and started Citizenship Schools teaching their neighbors and friends how to read and write and ultimately register to vote. This program was successful because it relied on three basic keys: the students determined the content of the curriculum based on their experiences and needs, the lessons focused on real problems within their community that needed solving, and the students were inspired to action to solve these problems. These keys can breathe life into our standards-based business classrooms today by shifting the focus away from teacher-directed classrooms to spaces were students determine the content of the lesson, the focus on real-life situations, and the skills learned prepare students to solve their own problems. INDEX WORDS: Dorchester Academy, Citizenship Education Program, Citizenship School, Highlander Folk School, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Chatham County Crusade for Voters, Savannah Herald, NAACP LIBERTY’S HIDDEN HISTORY: THE DORCHESTER CENTER AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA DURING THE 1960S. by AMY BLANTON B.S., Brewton Parker College, 2005 M.Ed., Troy University, 2008 Ed.S., Georgia Southern University, 2010 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION STATESBORO, GEORGIA © 2017 AMY BLANTON All Rights Reserved 1 LIBERTY’S HIDDEN HISTORY: THE DORCHESTER CENTER AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA DURING THE 1960S. by AMY BLANTON Major Professor: Daniel Chapman Committee: Delores Liston John Weaver William Schubert Electronic Version Approved: July 2017 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my chair, Dr. Daniel Chapman, for his support and guidance in refining my study without losing the original intent. I would also like to thank the members of my committee Dr. John Weaver, Dr. Delores Liston, and Dr. William Schubert for their expertise and advice which were instrumental to the successful completion of this study. I would like to thank William “Bill” Austin, Director of the Dorchester Improvement Association, for taking the time to walk me through Dorchester so I could truly appreciate its historical value and importance to our community. I would like to thank my family and friends who cheered me on and encouraged me during the course of this project. To my family – your prayers were invaluable. To my husband Tim – without your love and support I would not have been able to complete this process. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................2 CHAPTER 1 LIBERTY’S HIDDEN HISTORY .......................................................................5 Establishing Dorchester ...............................................................................6 Liberty’s Hidden History ...........................................................................12 Research Questions ....................................................................................16 Methods & Sources of Data .......................................................................17 2 STRONG ROOTS ..............................................................................................21 Myles Horton & the Highlander Folk School ............................................22 Highlander & the Labor Movement ...........................................................26 Highlander, Literacy Education, & Johns Island .......................................30 Training the Teachers ................................................................................35 The Highlander Philosophy .......................................................................37 Analyzing the Citizenship School Program ...............................................46 3 DOCUMENTING DORCHESTER....................................................................50 The Birth of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.....................50 The Crusade for Citizenship ......................................................................53 The Dorchester Center ...............................................................................65 Citizenship Education Program Basics ......................................................79 Measuring Success .....................................................................................95 Analyzing the Citizenship Education Program ........................................110 4 “YEASTY” CONCEPT ....................................................................................114 Voter Registration Requirements .............................................................116 4 Citizenship Schools ..................................................................................118 Citizenship School Teachers ....................................................................131 The Impact of the Citizenship Schools ....................................................145 5 “NOW WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?” ..........................................................151 Citizenship Education Program Principles ..............................................159 Analysis....................................................................................................161 Now What Am I Going to Do? ................................................................165 5 CHAPTER 1 LIBERTY’S HIDDEN HISTORY “Democracies do not just sustain themselves; they must be nurtured by engaged, knowledgeable citizens. Engaged, knowledgeable citizens are not born, they are developed through citizenship education.” Robert S. Leming (Cotton, 2012, p. 285) The Civil Rights Movement was a pivotal time in the history of the United States of America. Over a ten year period of time, black Americans tired of unequal treatment and unjust laws, bonded together to protest segregation. White businesses that only allowed black customers to enter through the back door were boycotted. At department store lunch counters across the South, black customers refused to sit separately from white customers. Black bus riders refused to move to the back of the bus to allow white bus riders a seat in the front of the bus. Countless marches were organized and led through city streets to draw attention to unequal treatment and unjust laws. During this same period of time, countless numbers of black Americans were jailed for their efforts. Often, a trip to jail included physical abuse and bail amounts were set at levels reserved for only the most dangerous of criminals (Young, 2008, p. 213). Supporters of the movement suffered direct attacks on their homes, including arson and bombs. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (2015), upwards of forty individuals, including several children, lost their lives from 1954-1968 as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. In celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, stories on the nightly news and in the newspapers recounted the leaders, events, and places important to the Civil Rights Movement’s success including Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, marches on 6 Washington D.C. and Selma, boycotts, and violence in several Southern states. Left out of the headlines was one of the key components of the Civil Rights Movement – the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Citizenship Education Program. This educational program saw the enrollment of over an estimated 8,000 adults between 1961 and 1968 (Cotton, 2012, p. 112). While there were satellite locations of this program arranged when the need arose, the primary site for the Citizenship Education