Product Description

Studs Terkel, Bill Moyer, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are among the many who have recognized the unique influence Myles Horton has had on American social and educational history. Horton tells in his own simple, moving language how his vision was realized in the creation of the Highlander Folk School for adults in Tennessee. 35 photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47970 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Grandson of an illiterate "mountain man" and son of a poor Tennessee farmer, Horton worked his way through college and university studies and, after becoming a labor union organizer, founded and directed the Tennessee-based Highlander Folk School (now the Highlander Research and Education Center), with the missions to mobilize voter registration among blacks, further the cause of unions and support civil rights. In this "autobiography" coauthored with the Kohls ( View from the Oak ), Horton describes the struggle to keep Highlander going despite accusations of its Communist orientation, and recalls the people (Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Saul Alinsky, Eleanor Roosevelt) and movements that developed or gained inspiration there. A believer in freedom not only of speech but of individual thought, Horton stresses that he has never cast his lot with Communism but tried to provide opportunities for oppressed people to advance themselves. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Horton aspires to a world in which all "people are of worth . . . you not only have to love and respect people, but you have to think in terms of building a society that people can profit most from, and that kind of society has to work on the principle of equality." His Long Haul to help build such a world has led him from a Depression-era Tennessee family to the founding of the Highlander Folk School to a world-renowned position in the field of community education. From 1932 to its abrupt, politically motivated closing in 1961, the Highlander Folk School was a pioneer in experience-based education to address societal inequality in southern Appalachia. This book is primarily a treatise on the beliefs which governed Horton's life, rather than a traditional autobiography. (For a thorough history of the Highlander Folk School, see Aimee Isgrig Horton's Highlander Folk School , Carlson, 1989.)-- Annelle R. Huggins, Memphis State Univ. Libs.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A must for all in adult social justice education
In the 1970s, when I was a college student studying Appalachian sociology, Highlander was a golden beacon - the place where Rosa Parks learned civil disobedience! How I wish this book was available then. It's much more than an autobiography of Highlander's founder, Myles Horton. It's more than a history of Highlander. It explains how Horton and his associates evolved their methods of education. As part of a peace and justice start-up myself, I found myself thinking,"I must tell everyone about this idea!" and, "Oh, that happens to us, too." This book is an inspiration.

A lesson to Learn Now More than Ever
How a group of caring people can be transformed into a catalyst for social change. Myles Horton, and threads of the humanity who made up the Highlander School, championed the Appalachian working class, empowering them to stand up to the factory owners and politicians who used their lack of education against them. By respecting the knowledge and intelligence of the poorest, Mr. Horton was able to win the proud mountain people's respect and trust and help them to understand the foundations of the democracy within which they lived.

This book has a great deal to teach about democracy, about learning, about our society's prejudices built on race, sex and education. It is a book about inspiration, about defining and learning about your own beliefs and where you stand on important issues that effect all of humanity today. Read this book for the history, to learn about the strength of a man and a group who followed their beliefs...but you will find yourself, in the end, learning about yourself.

an inspiring memoir of struggle
This is a wonderful, engaging narrative of a life devoted to the struggle for justice, peace and freedom. In plain language, with humility, wit, and vigor, Horton recounts experiences, insights, and anecdotes gathered in his many years as an organizer and popular educator with the Highlander folk school in Tennessee, from the industrial union drives in the 30s, through the civil rights movement, and beyond. The book positively glows with Horton's courage, compassion, and intelligence.