Stimulate the Economy - and Justice! President Bush wants you to use your economic stimulus check to go shopping. Give it to social change instead! As someone who reads View from the Hill, you know that Highlander is supporting cutting-edge organizing for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice throughout Appalachia and the South. We're working with community groups on issues like education, the criminalization of youth, immigrant rights, the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and more. But we can't do it without your help. Nearly 1/2 of Highlander's annual budget comes from individual contributions, and over 90% of this comes from people who give less than $100 per year. So all contributions -- no matter how large or small -- are vital to our success and are deeply appreciated. Please give what you can to support Highlander's work. You can make a one-time contribution or sign up to make a regular monthly gift by clicking the "Donate Now" button above, or by clicking here. Together, we can work to change the economy, not just stimulate it, and show that justice means more than shopping. [Respond to this article]

• Teachers as Change Agents: Building a Stronger Education System - July 14-16, 2008. Join Highlander and Educators for Progressive Instructional Change in discussing the role teachers should play in social reform in and outside of the classroom. For more information and to apply online, visit www.highlandercenter.org/n-teachers-workshop2008.asp.
  
  
• Seeds of Fire Youth Leadership Camp - July 20-26, 2008. The camp is for southern youth age 13-19 involved in local organizing efforts, and their adult allies, committed to examining the world we live in and generating a new vision for the South and Appalachia, the United States, and the World! For more information and to apply online, visit www.highlandercenter.org/n-sof2008.asp.

THREADS participants

On May 2-4, Highlander held the first session of THREADS: A Leadership and Organizing School, our new multi-racial, intergenerational leadership training institute. The session was the first in an 18-month training program that will include three additional sessions at Highlander and two in local communities, as well as follow-up support and technical assistance for the organizations involved.

We received over 70 applications from across the South for 35 available spaces. Participants include African American, African immigrant, Latino, Native American, and white activists, ranging in age from 15-57. They work in grassroots organizations in eight states (AR, FL, LA, MS, NC, TN, VA, and WV), addressing a wide range of issues, including Katrina-related displacement and reconstruction, coastal erosion, mountaintop removal, immigrant and refugee rights, youth incarceration, workers' rights, education, and more.

The goals of THREADS include strengthening the capacity of participating groups to address issues in their communities, enhancing their skills and abilities to connect to people and issues across difficult divides, and helping to develop models of intergenerational organizing and leadership transition.

At the first session, participants got to know each other, learned about each other's organizations, and shared strategies for base-building and recruiting. Staff also introduced Highlander's approach to intergenerational organizing and creating multilingual spaces. The entire session was conducted simultaneously in English and Spanish.

For more information about THREADS, visit www.highlandercenter.org/p-threads.asp. To see pictures from the workshop, visit www.highlandercenter.org/photo-gallery-threads2008-05.asp.

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On April 11-13, Highlander held a Singing and Song-Sharing Workshop for activists and cultural workers to share liberation songs and learn new songs to incorporate into their social justice work. A multicultural, intergenerational group of 22 people from ten communities in six states (GA, MA, ME, MS, TN, and TX,) attended the gathering.

The workshop was a powerful experience. People taught each other over 25 songs, chants, and stories, as well as the context or history of the song. They left with a simple songbook they can use to pass the songs along.

Highlander has a long history of using music to inspire and unite, and we look forward to organizing similar workshops as part of our ongoing cultural organizing.

For information about Highlander's support for cultural organizing, visit www.highlandercenter.org/p-culture.asp.

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David Hilliard & James Calhoun at Highlander

On April 2, 2008, three members of the former Black Panther Party -- David Hilliard, Fredricka Newton, and James Calhoun -- visited Highlander for a dialogue on civil rights lessons from the past for the present and the future.

It was a historic meeting, and over 50 friends, colleagues, and members of the Highlander staff participated in the discussion.

Pictures from the gathering are available online at www.highlandercenter.org/photo-gallery-black-panthers.asp.

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The April issue of the Popular Education News inlcuded an article on "Bilingual Resources from Highlander's Bookstore."

The article highlighted Across Races and Nations: Building New Communities In The U.S. South / A traves de Razas y Naciones: Construyendo Communidades en el Nuevo Sur de EEUU -- a bilingual report on the impact of immigration and the opportunities for cross-race organizing in the South.

Across Races and Nations was the result of a participatory research project sponsored by Highlander, the Southern Regional Council, and the Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis. It includes articles and stories on immigrant and cross-race organizing, workshop materials, and an extensive bibliography.

Popular Education News is a monthly e-newsletter that provides updates, information, and resources related to popular education. You can access it online at www.popednews.org.

To order Across Races and Nations or other bilingual materials from the Highlander bookstore, visit www.highlandercenter.org/r-b-bilingual-spanish.asp.

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For an excellent introduction to youth organizing, check out Resist's March-April 2008 newsletter, "Youth Organizing Today."

The issue features articles on youth organizing and a list of resources that includes Highlander's Seeds of Fire Youth Leadership Training Program, as well as the Center for Third World Organizing, Project Hip-Hop, the School of Unity and Liberation, and Student Action for Farmworkers.

Resist has been supporting organizing and education for social change for over 40 years. You can learn more about their work at www.resistinc.org.

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On April 3rd, Tavis Smiley interviewed Dorothy Cotton, the former Education Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), where she worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ms. Cotton is a longtime friend and colleague of Highlander and a member of the We Shall Overcome Committee.

In the interview, Ms. Cotton emphasized the importance of the SCLC's citizenship education program, which began at Highlander in 1954. The program was transferred to SCLC in 1961 when Highlander was under attack for its work with the Civil Rights Movement.

Ms. Cotton argued that the citizenship education program was "the best program SCLC had." Its participants, she said, were "ordinary people right off the farms and the plantations," and after their training they "went back to their home towns, and those home towns were never the same again."

Ms. Cotton also discussed how she got involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the sexism in the Movement, and more.

You can listen to the interview, read a transcript, and watch a short video clip at www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200804/20080403_cotton.html.

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Septima Clark conferring with Cecil Branstetter, George Barrett, Perry MacKay Sturges, and Guy Carawan after the 1959 raid on Highlander.

The Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University has recently posted The Highlander Folk School: A Photographic History on its website at www.metascholar.org/highlander/SPT--Home.php. The photographs can be accessed through the "Browse Resources" page on the site.

The collection contains several hundred photographs from Highlander's archives, which were scanned as part of the Woodruff Library's MetaScholar program. The pictures are organized in categories, including "Communications," "Dance," "Meetings," and "Workshops (Adult Education)."

In addition to posting the collection online, the Woodruff Library has provided Highlander with high-quality digital versions of all of the images, which we are using to fill the many requests we receive for photographs from our history. We appreciate the Library's help in this regard.

For permission to use the pictures in the collection, contact Susan Williams at Highlander at swilliams@highlandercenter.org or (865) 933-3443 x229.

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