Lecturing at Highlander, Monteagle, Tennessee. WHI 52308
Highlander Folk School The Highlander Folk School, and later the
Highlander Research and Education Center, began in the 1930s as
a social leadership center focused on labor organization in
Monteagle, Tennessee. In 1953, Highlander shifted focus to civil
rights, reflecting an underlying belief that progressive
advances in the South depended greatly on defeating segregation.
Myles Horton and Don West created the Highlander Folk School in
1932 to educate rural and industrial leaders for what they
called "a new social order." Through the mid-1940s, Highlander
worked primarily to build a labor movement among farmers,
laborers, miners, and woodcutters by supporting strikes and
training workers to take leadership roles. Shifting to civil
rights in 1953, Highlander drew the ire of the press during its
25th anniversary in 1957. Speakers at the event, including
Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and Aubrey Williams, were
accused of inciting racial strife through