May Justus facts for kids

May Justus (born May 12, 1898 – died November 7, 1989) was an American writer. She wrote many children's books. Most of her stories were about the Appalachia region. Her books showed the old traditions and culture of East Tennessee, where she grew up. May Justus was also a teacher. For many years, she volunteered as the secretary-treasurer for the Highlander Folk School.

May Justus's Life Story

Early Life and Education

May Justus was born in Del Rio, Tennessee, in 1898. She was one of ten children. Her father, Stephen Justus, was a schoolteacher. Her mother was Margaret Brooks Justus. Their home was full of stories and books. The family often read books aloud together. This helped May love reading and storytelling.

May studied to become a teacher at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She earned a bachelor's degree. Her first stories came from her experiences as a young teacher. She would write down the tales she told her students after class.

Teaching and the Summerfield School

Before 1932, May Justus worked as a teacher. She taught at a mission school in a faraway part of Lee County, Kentucky. She lived there with her long-time friend, Vera McCampbell. When Vera's mother became ill, they needed to move closer to a hospital.

They moved to Summerfield, a small community near Monteagle in Grundy County, Tennessee. There, they joined Lillian Johnson, who had started a special school called the Summerfield School. May and Vera became two of the three teachers at the school. They taught regular subjects up to 8th grade. They also taught arts and crafts. Students made handicrafts, which were sold to raise money for the school. The teachers also helped provide meals for the students.

Working with the Highlander Folk School

In 1932, two educators, Myles Horton and Don West, took over the Summerfield School. They wanted to run it like a Danish "folk school." This new plan turned the Summerfield School into the Highlander Folk School.

May Justus and Vera McCampbell soon left to teach at a public school nearby. However, Don West asked May to volunteer at Highlander. She agreed and continued to help Highlander until it was forced to close in 1961. For many years, she was Highlander's secretary-treasurer.

In 1939, May Justus stopped teaching full-time because of a heart problem. After that, she spent more time writing her books. Even after retiring, she still taught special lessons to children with different needs. She also had a program of stories and songs for children. She even kept a special library for children in her attic.

Supporting Equality

May Justus had always lived in rural Appalachia. Her work with the Highlander Folk School was her first time meeting African Americans. Through this, she became a strong supporter of equal rights for all people.

She became very close friends with Septima Clark. Septima was an African American woman. She had lost her teaching job in Charleston, South Carolina, because she was a member of the NAACP. Septima led a Highlander program in South Carolina that taught African Americans how to read. Both May and Septima loved to read. They were both teachers from the rural South. They also shared similar religious beliefs.

May first saw how unfair racial discrimination was when she was with Septima. This happened under Jim Crow laws, which kept black and white people separate. They were at the Andrew Jackson Hotel in Nashville. Septima was not allowed to use the "white-only" elevator.

Standing Up for What's Right

In 1959, May Justus had to testify in a hearing. This hearing was part of an investigation into Highlander Folk School. The state of Tennessee was trying to close Highlander. This led to the state taking away Highlander’s official permission to operate and seizing its land in Monteagle in 1961.

During the hearing, May was asked about her thoughts on black and white people dancing together. She bravely told the committee, "I see nothing immoral about it. ... It's a square dance. I can look at television any time and see worse than that." The person questioning her then asked, "Don't you know it's against the law for whites and colored to marry in Tennessee?" May replied, "Yes, sir, but I didn't know that a square dance was part of a marriage ceremony." Her questioner then asked about Highlander's purpose. He said, "It says here one of your purposes is to train rural and industrial leaders. Have you ever issued any diplomas to rural and industrial leaders that you know of?" May answered, "I didn't know diplomas were required for rural and industrial leaders." This ended her questioning.

Because she spoke out for Highlander and its efforts to end racism, May was removed from her local Presbyterian church. She had taught Sunday school there. Vera McCampbell also lost her public school teaching job because of their connection to Highlander.

May Justus passed away in Tennessee on November 7, 1989. She was buried in Summerfield Cemetery in Grundy County.

May Justus's Books

May Justus wrote about 60 books between 1927 and 1980. These included children's stories and some poetry. Her children's books often mixed traditional folklore with realistic stories. Her characters spoke in Appalachian dialect. They also followed old mountain customs. They often sang traditional songs. Some of her books even included recipes. Others had the words and music for the songs her characters sang. She also described traditional herbal remedies.

Only two of May Justus's children's books were not set in Appalachia. These were New Boy in School (1963) and A New Home for Billy (1966). Both books were about racial desegregation. This means they talked about ending the separation of people based on race.

New Boy in School tells the story of an African American boy. He moves to Nashville from Louisiana. He starts at an integrated school in Nashville. He is the only brown-skinned child in his class. May Justus was inspired to write this book by her experience with Septima Clark and the "whites-only" elevator. She was also moved by the bombing of Hattie Cotton School. This was one of the first Nashville schools to become integrated. A professor named Tina Hanlon said that New Boy was probably the first book for young readers about desegregation. Later in her life, May Justus said it was her favorite book.

A New Home for Billy is about families of different races living together. It tells the story of an African American boy. His family faces unfair treatment when they try to move to the suburbs. They want to leave their crowded apartment. But they eventually find a home in a neighborhood where people of all races live together.

Some of May Justus's books include:

• Peter Pocket: A Little Boy of the Cumberland Mountains, 1927. This was her first book. It was about a young boy's life in the Cumberland Mountains.
• Gabby Gaffer, 1929
• At the Foot of Windy Low, 1930
• The Other Side of the Mountain, 1931
• Gabby Gaffer's New Shoes, 1935
• Honey Jane, 1935
• Near-Side-and-Far, 1936
• Cabin on Kettle Creek, 1941
• Sammy, 1946. This book included the music for a song called "There Was a Little Tree".
• Susie, 1947. This book included the music for "Lazy Lady".
• Luck for Little Lihu, 1950. This story was about a 10-year-old "backwoods boy" and his adventures.
• Children of the Great Smoky Mountains, 1952. This was a collection of 16 stories.
• Surprise for Peter Pocket, 1955
• Use Your Head, Hildy, 1956
• The Right House for Rowdy, 1960
• New Boy in School, 1963
• A New Home for Billy, 1966
• Eben and the Rattlesnake, 1969
• My Lord and I, 1980. This book was a collection of poems.

Recorded Songs

Between 1953 and 1961, a person named Guy Carawan made field recordings of May Justus. She sang ballads and folk songs that she learned as a child. These included songs from Appalachia and songs her grandmother brought from England. In 2011, the Tennessee Folklore Society and Jubilee Community Arts released these recordings on a CD. It was called May Justus, The Carawan Recordings.

Awards and Recognitions

May Justus received the Julia Ellsworth Ford Prize twice. She won it in 1935 for Gabby Gaffer's New Shoes. She won it again in 1936 for Near-Side-And-Far. In 1950, she won a Boys Club of America Junior Book Award for Luck for Little Lihu. The public library in Monteagle, Tennessee, is named after her.