Inventory of the Highlander Research and Education Center Collection, 1937-1948 and undated

Collection Number 20361

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Historical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
block Items Separated
block Related Collections
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
Processed by
Allyn Meredith
Date Processed
June 2004
Encoded by
Allyn Meredith
Date Encoded
August 2004
Back to Top

Descriptive Summary

Repository
Southern Folklife Collection
Creator
Highlander Research and Education Center (Knoxville, Tenn.).
Title
Highlander Research and Education Center Collection, 1937-1948 and undated
Call Number
20361
Extent
63 items (2.0 linear feet)
Abstract
Myles Horton founded the Highlander Folk School in 1932 as an adult education institution based on the principle of empowerment. Horton and other School members worked towards mobilizing labor unions in the 1930s and Citizenship Schools during the civil rights movement beginning in the late 1950s. They worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Guy and Candie Carawan, Septima Clark, and Rosa Parks, among others. In 1959, the School was investigated for Communist activities and confiscation by the state of Tennessee. Soon after, its buildings mysteriously burned to the ground. The Highlander Folk School was re-chartered in 1971 as the Highlander Research and Education Center near Knoxville, Tenn. The collection includes acetate and transcription discs documenting the struggle for justice through political and social activism. Recordings of folk music, protest songs, labor songs, and African American religious songs were a large part of this movement and appear here. Acetate discs contain radio programs, recorded songs, and voices of leaders from the civil rights movement, including Esau Jenkins, Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Miles Horton, and Zilphia Horton. Electrical transcription discs contain a variety of radio programs on issues related to the work at the Highlander Folk School.
Language
English.


Back to Top

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
This collection has restrictions to access. Please see details below or contact the Manuscripts Department for more information.
Usage Restrictions
Use of audio recordings may require production of listening copies.
Provenance
Acquired in June 2002.
Processing Information
Preservation of and access to the Highlander Research and Education Center Collection were made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Highlander Research and Education Center Collection #20361, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Back to Top

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Adult education--United States--History.
African Americans--Civil rights.
African Americans--Religion.
African Americans--Songs and music.
Civil rights movements--Songs and music.
Civil rights--United States.
Clark, Septima Poinsette, 1898-1987.
Folk music--United States.
Highlander Folk School (Monteagle, Tenn.).
Highlander Research and Education Center (Knoxville, Tenn.).
Horton, Myles, 1905- .
Horton, Zilphia, 1910-1956.
Jenkins, Esau.
Labor--Songs and music.
Parks, Rosa, 1913- .
Protest songs--United States.
Radio programs--United States.
Social movements--Songs and music.
Social movements--United States.
Working class--Songs and music.
Back to Top

Related Collections

Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project Collection (#20004)
Guy and Candie Carawan Collection (#20008)
Back to Top

Historical Note

Myles Horton founded the Highlander Folk School in 1932 as an adult education institution based on the principle of empowerment. Horton (1905-1991) was born and raised among the Appalachian Mountains in Savannah, Tenn. He grew up in a working-class family that believed in education and community service. His parents were schoolteachers until the late 1920s, after which they worked for the Works Progress Administration and other employers. Horton began working in packing plants before graduating from high school. During this time, he staged a tomato packers' strike and negotiated raises for workers.

In 1924, Horton attended Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn. He later studied at Union Theological Seminary and traveled to Denmark to explore educational reform. He investigated the work of Jane Addams and John Dewey and came to believe that the way to affect change in society was to give the poor and disenfranchised a place to organize and to tell their stories.

In 1932, the Highlander Folk School began to take form in Monteagle, Tenn. Horton and other School members worked towards mobilizing labor unions in the 1930s and Citizenship Schools during the civil rights movement beginning in the late 1950s. They worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Guy and Candie Carawan, Septima Clark, and Rosa Parks, among others. Parks attended a workshop at the Highlander Folk School shortly before refusing to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Ala. Zilphia Horton, the music and drama director at Highlander and Myles Horton's wife, heard the song "We Shall Overcome" at a workshop at the School. She later taught the song to Pete Seeger who popularized it around the country. "We Shall Overcome" became one of the anthems of the civil rights movement. Zilphia Horton died in 1955 in an accident

In 1959, the School was investigated for Communist activities. The investigation led to the School's confiscation by the state of Tennessee. Soon after, its buildings mysteriously burned to the ground.

The Highlander Folk School was re-chartered in 1971 as the Highlander Research and Education Center near Knoxville, Tenn., where it continued to provide education and support to poor and working-class people fighting economic injustice, poverty, prejudice, and environmental destruction and to help grassroots leaders create tools for building broad-based movements for change.

Back to Top

Collection Overview

The collection of acetate and transcription discs from the Highlander Research and Education Center near Knoxville, Tenn. (formerly the Highland Folk School in Monteagle, Tenn.) documents the struggle for justice through political and social activism. Recordings of folk music, protest songs, labor songs, and African American religious songs were a large part of this movement and appear here. Acetate discs contain radio programs, recorded songs, and voices of leaders from the civil rights movement, including Esau Jenkins, Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Miles Horton, and Zilphia Horton. Electrical transcription discs contain a variety of radio programs on issues related to the work at the Highlander Folk School (e.g., the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) worked closely with the Highlander Folk School on labor issues and is represented in the transcription disc collection).

The Highlander Research and Education Center Collection was chosen for the National Recording Registry.

Back to Top

Organization of Collection

1. Acetate Discs
2. Transcription Discs
Back to Top

Items Separated

Items are separated according to their format (FDs and TRs).

Back to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Acetate Discs, undated.
51 items.
Acetate discs consist of radio programs, recorded songs, and voices of leaders from the civil rights movement, including Esau Jenkins, Septima Clark, Rosa Parks, Miles Horton, and Zilphia Horton.
FD-729: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937" includes: narrated description of Appalachian mountain people; spirituals, ballads, and other songs performed for broadcast such as "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "The Crawdad Song," as well as humorous stories that end with a yodel. Disc 1 of 4.
FD-730: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937," as above. Disc 2 of 4.
FD-731: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937," as above. Disc 3 of 4.
FD-732: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937," as above. Disc 4 of 4.
FD-733: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled "Broadcast to England, 1937,"with Myles Horton, George Mitchell, Rosa Parks, Esau Jenkins, Septima Clark.
FD-734: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled "Broadcast to England, 1937," with Myles Horton, George Mitchell, Rosa Parks, L. A. Blackman, Septima Clark.
FD-735: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937" includes: Narrated description of Appalachian mountain people; spirituals, ballads and other songs performed for broadcast such as "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "The Crawdad Song; " as well as humorous stories that end with a yodel. Disc 1 of 4.
FD-736: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937" includes: Narrated description of Appalachian mountain people; spirituals, ballads and other songs performed for broadcast such as "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "The Crawdad Song; " as well as humorous stories that end with a yodel. Disc 2 of 4.
FD-737: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937" includes: Narrated description of Appalachian mountain people; spirituals, ballads and other songs performed for broadcast such as "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "The Crawdad Song; " as well as humorous stories that end with a yodel. Disc 3 of 4.
FD-738: Highlander Folk School dispatch entitled, "Broadcast to England, 1937" includes: Narrated description of Appalachian mountain people; spirituals, ballads and other songs performed for broadcast such as "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "The Crawdad Song; " as well as humorous stories that end with a yodel. Disc 4 of 4.
FD-739: Movement songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School: "Get Thee Behind" and "Glory Land."
FD-740: "Shake Hands" and "Life's Railway" by M. D. Laugherty and Tom Kelley.
FD-741: "Unclouded Day" and unknown song by unidentified artists.
FD-742: "Cripple Creek" and "Nobody's Darling" by Tom Kelley.
FD-743: "Are You Tired Of Me My Darling?" and "Who Thought It?" by unidentified artists.
FD-744: "Oh Doctor" and "Krueger Blues" by unidentified artist.
FD-745: "Twilight and Shadows," Mr. and Mrs. Bill Boswell.
FD-746: Work camp songs and stories including: "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray "led by Zilphia Horton and Bill Euliss recorded at the Highlander Folk School. 1941. Disc 1 of 23.
FD-747: "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "When The New World Is Revealed" by Highlander chorus; Nashville Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn. Disc 2 of 23.
FD-748: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 3 of 23.
1. "Sixty-Million Jobs."
2. "Look Ahead Union Man."
3. "Great Day, Crawdad."
4. [Do You Wanna See Them Unions Grow].
FD-749: "We're Gonna Roll the Union On" and "Solidarity Forever" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 4 of 23.
FD-750: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 5 of 23.
1. "We're Gonna Roll the Union On."
2. "We Will Overcome."
3. "When The New World Is Revealed."
FD-751: "Way Down in Dallas, Texas" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 6 of 23.
FD-752: "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "Solidarity Forever" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 7 of 23.
FD-753: "When The New World Is Revealed" and "We Shall Not Be Moved" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 8 of 23.
FD-754: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 9 of 23.
1. "We're Gonna Roll the Union On."
2. "We Will Overcome."
3. "Solidarity Forever."
FD-755: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 10 of 23.
1. "Sixty-Million Jobs."
2. "CIO in Dixie."
3. "Great Day."
4. "If You Wanna See The Unions Grow."
FD-756: "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "When The New World Is Revealed" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 11 of 23.
FD-757: "When The New World Is Revealed" and "We Shall Not Be Moved" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 12 of 23.
FD-758: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 13 of 23.
1. "Were Gonna Roll the Union On."
2. "We Shall Overcome."
3. "Solidarity Forever."
FD-759: "We're Gonna Roll the Union On" and "We Shall Overcome" recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 14 of 23.
FD-760: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 15 of 23.
1. "Solidarity Forever."
2. "Great Day."
3. "Do You Wanna See The Unions Grow?"
4. "Sixty Million Jobs."
FD-761: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 16 of 23.
1. "CIO in Dixie."
2. "Great Day."
3. "Do You Wanna See The Unions Grow?"
4. "Sixty Million Jobs."
FD-762: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. 25 July 1941. Disc 17 of 23.
1. "CIO in Dixie."
2. "I'll Never Marry Anymore."
3. "Black Sheep."
4. "Come All Ye Young Men."
FD-763: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 18 of 23.
1. [The Old Man Came To ...]
2. "Farewell To All Below."
3. [Down in the Valley/Some of 'Dem Bones.]
4. "What Will You Do?"
FD-764: Songs by Zilphia Horton and Bill Lane recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 19 of 23.
1. [The Old Man Came To...], Zilphia Horton.
2. "No More Mourning After While, "Zilphia Horton.
3. "I Heard The Voice of Jesus, "Bill Lane.
FD-765: Songs recorded at the Highlander Folk School. December 1940. Disc 20 of 23.
1. "My Father in Heaven."
2. "Oh Glory Hallelujah."
FD-766: Songs sung by Melinda Nunly Vaughn, recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 21 of 23.
1. "On The Banks of the Ohio."
2. [As I Went Out Walking].
FD-767: Songs sung by Zelphia Horton and the Highlander Chorus, recorded at the Highlander Folk School. Disc 22 of 23.
1. "No More Mourning After While."
2. "We Will Overcome."
3. "When the New World Is Revealed."
4. "How Long."
FD-768: Sacred Harp songs performed at the Nashville, Tenn. YMCA. Disc 23 of 23.
1. "Recording test, story."
2. "Hymn 268."
3. "Evening Shade."
4. "Hymn 209."
FD-769: Highlander chorus; Nashville Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.
1. "We're Gonna Roll the Union."
2. "We Will Overcome."
3. "Solidarity Forever."
FD-770: Highlander chorus; Nashville Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.
1. "We Shall Not Be Moved."
2. "When the New World is Revealed."
FD-771: Highlander chorus; Nashville Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.
1. "If You Wanna See Your Union Grow."
2. "Sixty Million Jobs."
3. "CIO in Dixie."
FD-772: Highlander chorus; Nashville Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.
1. "Solidarity Forever."
2. "Sixty Million Jobs and CIO."
3. "In Dixie."
FD-773: Highlander chorus; Nashville Recording Studio, Nashville, Tenn.
1. "Solidarity Forever."
2. "Roll the Union On."
3. "We Will Overcome."
FD-774: The Loving High School Chorus in Birmingham, Ala.
1. [Forget, Forget].
2. Unidentified song.
3. "Glory, Glory to the Lord."
4. [When the Trumpet Sounds].
FD-775: Pianist, W. Hillis.
1. "Intermezzo" by Brahms.
2-4. Three dances.
FD-776: L. A. Blackman: Story of NAACP petition in Elloree, S.C. Recorded in Nashville, Tenn.
FD-777: Songs by unidentified old-time group.
1. "Cumberland Gal."
2. "Won't It Be Wonderful There?"
FD-778: Fiddle tunes.
FD-779: Songs by unidentified artist.
1. "If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again."
2. "This World Is Not My Home."

Back to Top
2. Transcription Discs, circa 1947.
12 items.
Electrical transcription discs containing a variety of radio programs on issues related to the work at the Highlander Folk School. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) worked closely with the Highlander Folk School on labor issues and is represented in the transcription disc collection.
TR-49: "The Story of the TVA." Presented by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Commentator: Cliff Allen.
TR-50: "The Public Power Story." Recorded at Sound Studios, Inc., Washington, D.C.
TR-51: "Main Street, U.S.A." Co-op taxation, including a talk by Charles F. Brannan. Produced by National Rural Electric Co-operative Association.
TR-52: "State Farmers' Union." Six-state membership broadcast. Rocky Mountain Radio Council in Denver, Colo.
TR-53: Address by Philip Murray concerning organized labor legislation. Broadcast over NBC network. 16 May 1947.
TR-54: "In Pursuit of Health." Labor Education Division, Roosevelt College of Chicago, under a grant from Inter-University Labor Education Committee.
TR-55: "Mr. Fraud: The Right-to-Wreck Man." American Federation of Labor, Department of Education. Recorded at the Gotham Recording Corporation, New York, N.Y.
TR-56: "Labor and the Nation: Mr. Coalminer Goes to Washington." Southern Educational Film Services in Athens, Ga. Recorded at the Acoustic Equipment Company, Atlanta, Ga. 1 December 1948. Disc 1 of 3.
TR-57: "Labor and the Nation: Mr. Coalminer Goes to Washington." As above. Disc 2 of 3.
TR-57: "Labor and the Nation: Mr. Coalminer Goes to Washington." As above. Disc 3 of 3.
TR-59: VD/Syphilis.
TR-60: State Farmers Union.

Back to Top