Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander

Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander by Frank Adams with Myles Horton Frank Adams first heard of the Highlander Folk School in 1959, when he was working as the secretary of the Local 219, American Newspaper Guild, AFL-CIO (Adams p. xi). He was looking for help with the union cause, and although clouded with controversy the Highlander Folk School was recommended. Later Adams again was intrigued by Highlander and their involvement with the civil rights movement. After being educated at Goddard College, a college that shared some ideas and ties with Highlander, Adams began his formal quest to understand Highlander. In order to truly understand the school Adams worked for the school. Documented in a recent newsletter from the Highlander School, Adams and his wife were honored at the 2005 Homecoming for their work at the school and Adam's publication of Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander quoted as "still one of the best books about Highlander's history" (Newsletter p. 5). Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander follows the life of Myles Horton, the schools founder, and his quest for adult education. Myles grew up in a poor Southern family that believed strongly in education. While a student in 1927 Horton was sent to organize bible study schools in Ozone, Tennessee. Horton realized that the traditional bible education was not working for the people of Ozone. They needed a form of adult education that would teach them valuable lessons for their everyday life. It was here that Horton learned that "people knew the answers to their own problems" and only needed help in organizing and sharing their ideas (Adams p. 7). Although a start for his ideas, Horton still had many questions about education. Horton continued to search for answers and moved back to New York City where he met many important leaders, and continued to develop his own ideas on life. During this time Horton became aware of his social conscious. In a specific example Horton was in favor of the teacher Scopes that was being persecuted for teaching evolution. This is when Horton "realized that he had taken a step away from the mores of his own society" (Adams p. 7). Also in his quest for the type of adult education that would help the people of Ozone, Horton traveled to Denmark to study the Danish Folk Schools that had helped the Danes rise above poverty. One of the basic principles of the future Highlander Folk School was framed after the Danish schools, and based on the ability of teachers not to teach material, but to "teach a capacity to learn" (Adams p. 23). In 1932, along with fellow recent graduates John Thompson and James Dombrowski, Horton started the Highlander Folk School in Grundy County, Tennessee. The main idea for the school was to gather together members from the community and figure out what they needed to learn. Soon it became apparent that one of the biggest problems facing the poor Southerners was poor working cond

Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander (Adams, 1975) is an engaging narrative describing the birth, struggles, and successes of the Highlander Folk School from its beginnings in the early 1930s through the retirement of its founder, Myles Horton, in the early 1970s. Set in the backcountry of Tennessee, the unconventional school is not about textbooks or teachers or personal enrichment, but rather the school promotes meaningful content created by participants, informal workshops, and community empowerment. Horton, having grown up in the impoverished Appalachian coal communities of eastern Tennessee, was moved to establish Highlander after becoming disillusioned with education which had little relevancy to the every day struggles of the poor. Recalling a summer administering a vacation Bible school program on the Cumberland Plateau, Horton said, "I couldn't put this in words...but such education failed to connect with their lives" (p.2). After college in both the South and the North and a trip to Denmark to visit the Danish Folk Schools, Horton learned not only to put his ideas into words, he put them into action. In the fall of 1932 Horton and a colleague opened the Highlander Folk School in Grundy County, Tennessee. The new school was dedicated to "social change and community action" (Merriam and Brockett, 1997, p. 57). Highlander would, "get behind the common judgments of the poor, help them learn to act and speak for themselves, [and] help them gain control over decisions affecting their daily lives" (Adams, 1975, p. 24). Highlander was run as a residential school where those suffering from social and economic injustices could come and voice their problems, work through solutions together, and create plans for community action upon returning home. As Adams details in his book, Highlander began its career empowering Southern workers to unionize for better pay and working conditions. Later Highlander proved instrumental in empowering Southern blacks to press for civil equality. The school's method of bringing people with like problems together and facilitating their efforts to understand and combat their problems proved to be highly successful; however, such methodology, as it resulted in structural change, proved to be controversial. Those advantaged by the status quo frequently threatened the school, its personnel, and its participants, and, moreover, denigrated its technique. Highlander was condemned as being communist, socialist, and anti-American. Historically adult education programs for the lower classes and minorities in America had been instruments of social control, whereby individuals such as Native Americans were taught to be 'civilized' farmers or African Americans were taught 'useful plantation skills' (Stubblefield and Keane, 1994). Too, the focus of adult education for all groups had generally been the improvement of the individual. As far back as the days of the early Republic, adult education was p

In Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The Idea of Highlander, Frank Adams describes the many successes and struggles of Highlander Folk School, brainchild of Myles Horton. Following years of education and research to open a school that would help improve the lives of poor country folk, Horton began Highlander in 1932 in Grundy County of Tennessee. It operated under Horton's notion that students "would learn to act and speak for themselves and would learn to gain control over decisions affecting their daily lives" (Adams, 1975). Horton believed this was the way to rid America's social structure of poverty and racism. According to Adams, Highlander Folk School had a mission of "what ought to be" rather than "what is." Horton believed people will always work to improve the future and have dreams and took a vested interest in education that could impact both these positively. The Highlander education model was an ongoing process for its Southern, poor adult students that tapped into cooperative or collective, yet independent thinking under the realm of democracy, brotherhood, mutuality, and united social action to solve problems. Highlander fit itself into its students' culture, allowing students to feel comfortable sharing thoughts with teacher and peers while learning. After describing the unthinkable living conditions of New York City's tenements in How the Other Half Lives, Riis proposed education as a solution to breaking the poverty cycle of those victimized by the tenements (Riis, 1997). Adams' book about Highlander Folk School shows that the right form of education can break the cycle of poverty and inequality, though not without challenge and strife. Just as in the tenements of New York City described in Riis' book, many of the South's poor country folk had terrible working conditions and low, unfair wages, if work could be found. Highlander Folk School helped the South's poor find a means to improve their lives at home and work using a theme of communication, such as group singing and peer group discussions. Students, through direction of their own learning, found ways to organize unions and effectively strike against employers when necessary. Highlander's role in helping organize unions led to improved working conditions, and therefore livelihood, for many of its students as well as their coworkers. In the early 1950's when labor unions in the South seemed to have accomplished as much as they would with Highlander Folk School, the board decided it was time for the school to move its focus to the civil rights movement. Highlander's first African American students wanted to learn so they could register to vote and conquer prejudice. The school room was in the back of a grocery store with like teachers and students. These students had previously been in classrooms in which children's chairs, tables, and books were used, immediately turning them off. Through Highlander, many African Americans learned to read by referr

Throughout the history of America, man's inhumanity to his fellow man has been consistently present. However, some men are born with a spirit of compassion, a need to help others, and a willingness to enhance changes in people's lives. One of these men, Myles Horton, nurtured a dream and a desire and embraced an idea. An idea reinforced by years of concerted study, times of exploration, and moments of soul searching. This was a simple idea but a difficult task; help poor adults educate themselves. The beginning of Myles Horton's dream and the fulfillment of his desire started with a community school in 1932, at Ozone Tennessee. The story is shared by author Frank Adams in a book named Unearthing Seeds of Fire; The Idea of Highlander. The reader encounters information about the educating and learning of adults as well as the complexities and diversity of life and living. The community school aptly named Highlander Folk School (a Highlander was an Appalachian), served the needs of a poor Grundy County populace (Adams, p.28). The reason for the existence of Highlander Folk School, the educational empowerment of poor adults, often led to the struggle for social change. These struggles included the social movements of unions and civil rights. Valuable lessons were learned during these controversies by Myles Horton and his staff. Highlander School learned their purpose was not labor organization, but rather labor education. Further experiences with labor and unions provided insight about the educational methods of Highlander and the people they empowered, "the education at Highlander had to recognize the fundamental ways by which people live, and change as those ways changed" (Adams, p. 71). Highlander School provided support in the battle for civil rights. Educational initiatives empowered black individuals toward freedom and democracy. An example of the Highlander's programs included citizenship schools taught and run by blacks, where students learned necessary skills of literacy and arithmetic. The struggle for civil rights was emphasized by Myles Horton as he carried a single message across the South, that black people must decide their own destinies. The programs at Highlander illustrated both the achievement of this message and the significance of whites in a supportive role (Adams, p. 120). Additionally, the controversy over Highlander's educational assistance provoked the wrath of racist Southern segregationists. These men of hate and opposition forced the closure of the Highlander School. However the idea of Highlander lived on and the school reopened in another location. The Highlander School still survives today. Offering the same simple message of hope; "learn from the people, start their education where they are" (Adams, p. 206), and still supports an ideology, a "process through which people could find purposeful and democratic unity with others to solve their collectively defined problems" (Adams, p. 207).. A simple message that ev

This book details the history of a folk-school that was purposed to teach people how to identify issues of conflict and how to address those issues. It was well written and informative. From these issues sprang up other issues, including civil rights. The author does a good job of tracing the history of this school and explaining the changes that took place as a result of many of these issues being addressed by the people.