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From The Vault

In 1932, Myles Nor­ton and friends formed the High­lander Folk School in rur­al Ten­nessee to help coal min­ers and oth­er labor lead­ers under­stand what it takes to orga­nize and demand liv­able wages and ben­e­fits for their fam­i­lies dur­ing the Great Depres­sion. By the mid 1950’s, the focus changed to orga­niz­ing par­tic­i­pants in the Civ­il Rights Movement.

Some of the notable names that passed through the School in the first 30 years include first Lady Eleanor Roo­sevelt, Dr. Mar­tin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Pete Seeger.

In 1960, KPFA Pub­lic Affairs Direc­tor Elsa Knight Thomp­son pro­duced a 2 hour doc­u­men­tary about the School. She inter­viewed founder Myles Hor­ton, Edu­ca­tion direc­tor Sep­ti­ma Clark, Esau Jenk­ins and oth­ers to find out about ear­ly days of the School and the chal­lenges since.

In 1961, The State of Ten­nessee revoked the Schools char­ter and con­fis­cat­ed the prop­er­ty. Myles Hor­ton sim­ply rein­cor­po­rat­ed as the High­lander Edu­ca­tion and Resource Cen­ter and moved to Knoxville and lat­er New Mar­ket Ten­nessee where it con­tin­ues doing it’s work today.