Myles Horton facts for kids
Myles Falls Horton (born July 9, 1905 – died January 19, 1990) was an important American educator. He helped start the Highlander Folk School, which played a huge part in the Civil Rights Movement. Many famous leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, learned from Horton and the school. In fact, Rosa Parks visited Highlander just before her brave decision to stay in her seat on a bus in 1955. Another leader, James Bevel, even called Horton "The Father of the Civil Rights Movement."
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Starting the Highlander School
Myles Horton grew up in a poor family in Savannah, Tennessee. He was deeply influenced by his studies at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1932, Horton, along with educator Don West and minister James A. Dombrowski, opened the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. Horton led the school until 1973. When the state of Tennessee closed it in 1961, he quickly moved it to Knoxville and reopened it.
Horton and West had visited Denmark to learn about their "folk schools." These schools were places where adults could learn and work together to improve their communities. The Highlander School was created with a similar idea: to help adults learn how to bring about social change. It was a safe place for people who wanted to make a difference in the South.
Why Highlander Was Important
The Highlander School was special because it brought white and Black people together. This was against the segregation laws at the time. The school also supported working-class people and the poor. Its lessons encouraged people to become activists. Rosa Parks felt much braver after her visit to Highlander. She said it helped her find the "courage to feel we were alone."
Horton learned a lot from working with poor mountain people in Ozone, Tennessee. He saw that when people talked freely about their problems, new ideas came from the group itself. He wanted Black and white people to meet and improve their lives together. Horton imagined a place where people who wanted social change could come together. He used this idea to create the Highlander School.
Challenges and Changes
Southern law enforcement often tried to stop Horton and the Highlander School. In 1959, the school was accused of breaking segregation laws and selling alcohol. Even though adults only left coins for beer from a refrigerator, the school was shut down. But Horton quickly applied for a new permit and reopened the school right away.
Today, the Highlander Center focuses on how environmental problems affect society. Horton was also influenced by his religious background. He believed in a society where everyone had justice. He joined the Social Gospel Movement, which believed that if Christian ideas were used to solve social problems, the world could be a better place.
Myles Horton and the Highlander School were featured in the 1985 documentary You Got to Move. Horton also inspired the Myles Horton Organization at the University of Tennessee in 1986. This group organized protests, including against the Ku Klux Klan, and worked to encourage the university to stop investing in South Africa.
Early Life and Learning
Myles Horton was born in 1905 in Savannah, Tennessee. His family was poor. His parents, Elsie Falls Horton and Perry Horton, had been teachers. They were Presbyterians. His father was part of a workers' group, and his mother was active in their community. They lost their teaching jobs when new rules required teachers to have at least one year of high school. After that, they worked many different jobs, including in factories. Myles's parents taught their children to be respectful and kind. Even though they were poor, they never felt like they were lower class. His mother, Elsie, even organized classes for people who were less fortunate.
Myles wanted to keep learning. At age fifteen, he left home to go to high school. He supported himself by working in a sawmill and a box factory. These jobs taught him the value of hard work. He went to several colleges, including Cumberland University, where he earned his first degree in 1928. He also studied at the University of Chicago and the Union Theological Seminary.
As a teenager, Horton showed his activist spirit. He worked in factories and even organized a strike for higher wages at a tomato factory. After college, he worked for the YMCA. In 1929, while studying in New York City, he learned about the idea of the social gospel. He wanted to find a peaceful way to challenge and change society, and he saw education as the tool. After visiting Danish folk high schools, Horton was inspired to create his own education center, the Highlander Folk School, in 1932.
In 1935, Myles Horton married Zilphia Mae Johnson. Zilphia worked closely with Horton until she passed away in 1956. They had two children. In 1962, Myles Horton married Aimee Isgrig. Myles Horton passed away in January 1990, at the age of 84.
See also
- List of civil rights leaders
- Highlander Folk School
- Cumberland Presbyterian Church
