| While the cry for civil rights fanned across the America South during the mid-1950s in response to the injustice and barbarity that African Americans experienced from centuries of slavery and then segregation, it was formed into a movement by leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. However, there was no real "space" within their communities for these leaders from many hamlets and communities from across the Deep South to reflect upon, plan and organize the movement due to the ever present threat of violence from the Ku Klux Klan. Tucked away in the annals of history almost as much as it is tucked away in the mountains of eastern Tennessee is the role the Highlander Center played as a gathering ground for the leadership and forces of the civil rights movement. Originally founded by Myles Horton -- his son Thorsten lives in Madison -- and Don West in 1932 as a place to work with people to help them make their communities better during the Great Depression, Highlander played a pivotal role in training union organizers and leaders in the 1930s. During the early 1950s, Highlander turned its focus to the civil rights movement. It was a natural evolution. "Because Highlander had a commitment to working with both White labor workers and Black ones, it began to get into trouble," said Anasa Troutman, development coordinator for Highlander who was spoke at James Reeb Unitarian Universalist Congregation October 26 as part of a local 75th Highlander anniversary celebration. "The neighborhood wasn't so accepting anymore. Did you know they had Black folk up there eating dinner? Did you know they had Black people spending the night with White people? Highlander was committed to multiracial organizing in the labor movement. And because Black and White people knew it was a place where they could go and talk and work and go through things together, that work naturally evolved into the civil rights movement when the civil rights movement came about." Rosa Parks trained there during the summer before the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there in 1957 for the center's 25th anniversary celebration. And the center played a major role in the fight to defeat South Carolina's literacy tests that kept Blacks disenfranchised from the vote. "One of the laws was that you had to read a particular part of the U.S. Constitution or you couldn't vote," Troutman said. "That kept a lot of Black people from voting. Esau Jenkins was a bus driver from South Carolina who cared about his community. He came to Highlander because Septima Clark, Highlander's education director, invited him. He had lived in South Carolina, so he knew what they needed. He was at Highlander for a completely different reason. The meeting he was involved in had nothing to do with literacy or voting. But when he was asked 'What do you need,' he said 'We need to learn how to read. My folks don't know how to read.' It started off where he would drive them back and forth to work. While he was on the bus, he began to teach them to read. Their strategy was citizenship schools. Highlander lent them the money to open the school. They trained the teachers and Septima Clark was the first teacher. They went throughout South Carolina and taught. It evolved into being able to generate the funds and the infrastructure to have an actual school. And then the schools were duplicated throughout South Carolina." Highlander has evolved with the times. Currently, it is working with people interested in environmentalism, immigration and youth issues. What makes Highlander unique and able to adapt to the times is its philosophy. "Highlander truly, truly is about people," Troutman emphasized. "It's about welcoming people -- anyone from anywhere doing anything who has a desire to be empowered and to take control over their own lives and their families and their communities. It allows them to come in and say what they need and meet other people who need similar things and be able to talk and learn and teach. We recognize that people who live through these things every day are the experts. We're not the experts. We just create a space for people to come and be together and learn and go back to their communities and do whatever it is that they need to do to have a life where they have choices and freedom and happiness and love in life. That is who we are and that's who we will be forever and ever." For more information about the Highlander Center, visit their website at www.highlandercenter.org.or call them at 865-933-3443. |
| Highlander Research and Education Center Civil rights training ground By Jonathan Gramling |
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| Anasa Troutman (Left) is the development coordinator for Highlander, which served as the training ground for many civil rights activists during the 1950s. |