[Xmca-l] Re: The Highlander Center in Tennessee

Robert Lake boblake@georgiasouthern.edu
Sat Aug 30 14:03:12 PDT 2014


Dear XCMA family.
I will be honoured to write a review piece if the deadline is reasonable no
one else has agreed to do it so far.
Robert Lake

Oitn Saturday, August 30, 2014, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> Your idea sounds like a real good idea to me, Andy- I am pretty sure
>         there are others around XMCA with interesting connections to
>         Highlander. The topic is certainly relevant to discussions of
> poverty and education, and a lot more of interest to this list.
>         mike
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 6:10 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > Well, there certainly is a lot to be said about Highlander!
> > I would be very willing to participate in a collaborative effort to
> recall
> > this amazing institution to MCA readers. As it happens, its current
> > incarnation, the Highlander Research and Education Center, is celebrating
> > the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Summer next month, but one of the
> > astounding features of this place is that it has survived alive through
> 82
> > years in the heart of Dixie teaching radical democracy to integrated
> > classes and taking its students out on to picket lines and voter
> > registration drives as part of their "course work". Absolutely
> astounding.
> > It is also a "design experiment" inasmuch as Myles Horton used it to
> > "experiment" to develop his methods of social change. And a rare case in
> > which a school has literally changed history, and consciously so.
> > But the fact is that I am a foreigner who only learnt that this place
> > existed a couple of weeks ago. Robert Lake on the other hand does know a
> > lot about it, and maybe Helena Worthen would like to contribute. The
> larger
> > context in which it has arisen in my research may just be too large to
> > introduce into a review article which does Highlander justice, but I
> could
> > add a line or too on that if Robert could write the bulk of it.
> >
> > Andy
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > *Andy Blunden*
> > http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> >
> >
> > mike cole wrote:
> >
> >> This entire line of discussion, including Highlander and Septima seems
> >> ripe for a kind of review essay for MCA. Might a couple of you involved
> in
> >> recuperating this important history consider creating a survey/ guide
> for
> >> the rest of us?
> >> Mike
> >>
> >> On Friday, August 29, 2014, Robert Lake <boblake@georgiasouthern.edu
> <javascript:;>
> >> <mailto:boblake@georgiasouthern.edu <javascript:;>>> wrote:
> >>
> >>     ​Hi ​
> >>     ​Andy,
> >>     I am so glad you are intrigued by Septima's role in the formation
> >>     of SNCC .
> >>     She was often overlooked in the chauvinist culture of the times
> >>     (both white
> >>     and black) and that is why began researching her life. Most people
> see
> >>     recognize Rosa Parks and Ella Baker's role and later those who were
> >>     credited for the "Freedom School curriculum​
> >>     ​". If you look at Clark's life and the manner and content of what
> she
> >>     taught on John's Island and other parts of South Carolina, ​
> >>     ​you can easily recognize that her work was seminal in the
> >>     formation of the
> >>     Freedom School Curriculum.
> >>
> >>     I have tried to get permission to reprint Septima's autobiography
> >>     from her
> >>     family, but I have been unsuccessful. The book by Cynthia Brown
> >>  *Ready
> >>     from Within *has a lot of  primary source interviews. Catherine
> Mellon
> >>     Charon's book,  *Septima Clark: Freedom's Teacher *is richly
> >>     detailed with
> >>     many interviews of her friends  and documents from primary sources
> >>     from the
> >>     University of Wisconsin Highlander collection.
> >>
> >>     Here is a link to a recorded interview with Septima that may be
> >>     useful to
> >>     you. I enjoyed hearing her voice at least.
> >>
> >>     http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/G-0017/menu.html
> >>
> >>     *Robert*
> >>
> >>
> >>     ​
> >>
> >>     On Aug 29, 2014 5:05 AM, "Andy Blunden" <ablunden@mira.net
> <javascript:;>
> >>     <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >>
> >>     > So you are placing Septima Clark right up there in importance,
> >>     Robert.
> >>     > I am part way through a "chronicle" of Highlander, called
> >>     "Highlander. No
> >>     > Ordinary school, 1932-1962". It is very useful for me, so I can
> get
> >>     > everything in sequence. So here I discovered that Septima Clark
> >>     was in
> >>     > charge of the discussions with the students who later joined
> >>     SNCC. So she
> >>     > is coming into focus for me. I have just ordered two books on her,
> >>     > including the one you recommended. Unfortuantely, an
> >>     autobiography she
> >>     > wrote in 1962 seems to be out of print and entirely unavailable
> now.
> >>     >
> >>     > Andy
> >>     >
> >>     ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> ------------
> >>     > *Andy Blunden*
> >>     > http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> >>     <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>
> >>     >
> >>     >
> >>     > Robert Lake wrote:
> >>     >
> >>     >> Hi Andy,
> >>     >> Yes I do. Start with this .
> >>     >> http://highlandercenter.org/about-us/history/
> >>     >>
> >>     >> And this biography of Myles Horton
> >>     >>
> >>     >>  http://www.amazon.com/The-Long-Haul-An-Autobiography/dp/
> >> 0807737003
> >>     >> and the biography of Septima Clark.
> >>     >>
> >>     >>  http://www.amazon.com/Freedoms-Teacher-Life-Septima-
> >>     >> Clark/dp/0807872229/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=
> >>     >> 1408889271&sr=1-2&keywords=septima+clark <http://www.amazon.com/
> >>     >> Freedoms-Teacher-Life-Septima-Clark/dp/0807872229/ref=sr_1_
> >>     >> 2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408889271&sr=1-2&keywords=septima+clark>
> >>     >>
> >>     >> I have written a piece on her as well and will send it this
> >>     afternoon.
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >> I think the book We Make the Road by Walking: A dialogue
> >>     between Myles
> >>     >> Horton and Paulo Freire
> >>     >> is one of the best books on both these leaders.
> >>     >>
> >>     >> More Later,
> >>     >> Robert Lake
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >> I will send more this afternoon.
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >> On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Andy Blunden
> >>     <ablunden@mira.net <javascript:;> <javascript:;> <mailto:
> >>     >> ablunden@mira.net <javascript:;> <javascript:;>>> wrote:
> >>     >>
> >>     >>     Does anyone on this list know about the Highlander Center,
> what
> >>     >>     used to be called the Highlander Folk School?
> >>     >>     The people there are very helpful, but they're also rushed
> off
> >>     >>     their feet (like everyone, I guess) and if there were any
> other
> >>     >>     sources of information about it, that would be helpful. I'm
> >>     >>     particularly interested if anyone is familiar with what
> >>     they were
> >>     >>     doing in the 1950s and 60s.
> >>     >>
> >>     >>     Andy
> >>     >>     --        ------------------------------
> >> ------------------------------
> >>     >> ------------
> >>     >>     *Andy Blunden*
> >>     >>     http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> >>     <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>
> >>     >>     <http://home.pacific.net.au/%7Eandy/>
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >> --
> >>     >> *Robert Lake  Ed.D.
> >>     >> *Associate Professor
> >>     >> Social Foundations of Education
> >>     >> Dept. of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
> >>     >> Georgia Southern University
> >>     >> Secretary/Treasurer-AERA- Paulo Freire Special Interest Group
> >>     >> P. O. Box 8144
> >>     >> Phone: (912) 478-0355
> >>     >> Fax: (912) 478-5382
> >>     >> Statesboro, GA  30460
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >>
> >>     >
> >>
> >>
> >
>


-- 

*Robert Lake  Ed.D.*Associate Professor
Social Foundations of Education
Dept. of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
Georgia Southern University
Secretary/Treasurer-AERA- Paulo Freire Special Interest Group
P. O. Box 8144
Phone: (912) 478-0355
Fax: (912) 478-5382
Statesboro, GA  30460


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