Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
"You Can't Padlock an Idea": Highlander Folk School and Civil Rights in Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
My research examines the history of the cultural programs of the Highlander Folk School in its original location in Monteagle, Tennessee during the period from 1932 to 1961. My dissertation draws on internal records and publications of Highlander from three archives, as well as contemporary newspapers, and it builds upon the analysis of scholars such as David Whisnant and Jane Becker. In this paper, I will present briefly on the ways in which Highlander used Appalachian folk culture as a “tradition,” particularly in its first decade, in order to build relationships among union members and with its sometimes skeptical neighbors in Grundy County. By the 1950s, Highlander had shifted its primary focus to civil rights, and after a lengthy legal battle, was forced from its original site by the state revoking its charter and selling its property. Now, these issues are emerging again, as a historic trust works to create a historic site in this location, which remains almost entirely white and deeply impoverished. In this paper, I will examine the limitations of Highlander’s cultural programs in the face of these attacks over integration, but also, what this tells us about the decline of “working class” identity during the McCarthy era. I will examine how ideas about Appalachian distinctiveness shaped both the attacks on the school and defenses of it. In this way, I’ll use Highlander’s story as a lens to consider whether opposition to the labor and civil rights movements in Appalachia was truly distinctive.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Emily Senefeld is a Visiting Instructor of History at Sewanee: The University of the South who will complete her dissertation at the University of Virginia in 2017. Her research focuses on the cultural programs of the Highlander Folk School.
"You Can't Padlock an Idea": Highlander Folk School and Civil Rights in Appalachia
My research examines the history of the cultural programs of the Highlander Folk School in its original location in Monteagle, Tennessee during the period from 1932 to 1961. My dissertation draws on internal records and publications of Highlander from three archives, as well as contemporary newspapers, and it builds upon the analysis of scholars such as David Whisnant and Jane Becker. In this paper, I will present briefly on the ways in which Highlander used Appalachian folk culture as a “tradition,” particularly in its first decade, in order to build relationships among union members and with its sometimes skeptical neighbors in Grundy County. By the 1950s, Highlander had shifted its primary focus to civil rights, and after a lengthy legal battle, was forced from its original site by the state revoking its charter and selling its property. Now, these issues are emerging again, as a historic trust works to create a historic site in this location, which remains almost entirely white and deeply impoverished. In this paper, I will examine the limitations of Highlander’s cultural programs in the face of these attacks over integration, but also, what this tells us about the decline of “working class” identity during the McCarthy era. I will examine how ideas about Appalachian distinctiveness shaped both the attacks on the school and defenses of it. In this way, I’ll use Highlander’s story as a lens to consider whether opposition to the labor and civil rights movements in Appalachia was truly distinctive.
