◆ SpookStack

FLP-350 (3-62) rar % ‘ (ke ok oO* they think it was. thelr time—went on at High- tendan in the years before it was closed in 1962 after a state court found beer was. served om the premises. The aura of mystery that. surrcunded the schoo! and, what went on there stimulated | the belief by some local people that what waa tauctt at High- Jander wes communism. This: fear now has been fed by leaf- Jets aed billboards which have heen distributed across tha , South by the White Citizens’ Council, ‘ Trese publications carry a picture of Dr. Martin Luther / King seated hestde Myles . Herten, Highiander director in a classroom at Highlander. .The caption on the picture reads: | “Martin Luther King at Communist training school.” Ten years after the picture “was taken Horton can laugh | about the Comrounist caption. | oblandsr wagn'’t Com- munist then. it never has ewia fvisan auring @ recent visit to Nashville where he attended the Aace Rela-' tione Institute at Fisk Univer- erly, “The Citizens Counci] knows - that too,” he added, i Horton was and is a man. ‘who Involved himself fn the’ labor movement and fn the’ civil rights movement—some- times when he wasn't wanted. | Resias Reports Bari inthe sariy SahG's there were reports circulaled among rome libera) groups that Hor- ton wag admitiing FBI men and McCarthy committes In- - vertiratara te Highlander te: i {ain them to's on -Com- i fant ee ee deat A 3-Time Visitor Reports: _ It Was ‘Different,’ but Not Red - By NAT CALDWELL ! Staff Correspondent — f \RACY CITY, Tenn.—Merchants up this way : say if an election could be held on whether Highlander Folk School was a Communist train- | ing school, most Grundy County folks would vote |, For 36 years Highlander operated in this moun- tainous region and had some famous visitors and sunnorters, including Mra. Eleanor Roosevelt.. Strange things—strange for Herton, who denied this at - weren't Communist, the doc- re terme, kk O*K i the time, says today; “While the Citizens council knows we | trinaire liberal must have known we would not have used our facilities ta train profes- slenal government spies. Off and on during the years various charges were aimed at Highlander and Horton, who now runs @ successor echool at Knoxville. A 1859 . state legislative committees - hearing took = look at High- Jander—and that probe left the - impression that Horton was an - opportunist but not @ com- mounist. On three, occasions during ‘tts 30-year existence, In 1936, 187 and again in 1660—this reporter visited Highlander. What went on there cer tainly might have been wn- | usual to the mountain folks ; who lived nearby. For one thing, there were integrated . méetinga—whites and Negroes attending seminars together, singing together, square danc-. ing together, their children: swimming together in the Iske. : There were lectures and: round table discussions. The = talk may have drifted over the heads of the farmers and miners, some of wham brought their children to the kindergarten Horton eperated. There was talk of government and politics, iabor versua capi- | taliam; secialism versus fae ciem. ; ce Very early it was a place, where some labor unions sent: some of their officiain to dis-] cusa thelr problems. Stil] later, Hae ppom Saute as © (Mount Clipping in Spece Below) . association he was su + wil at dee —— Not Un-American ° . Certainly there was the dis: content of the working class. expressed in ,the 1930's by) representatives of ‘labor who represented men struggling out of the depres-: sion just as in the 1960's there. was discontent expressed by Negroes who were beginning | to struggle for equal rights. - But there was never the feeling that this was subver- sive of Un- American, . when some ideas which: seemed impractical, heir- brained or half-baked were of-. | fered, Much of the thinking and. lalking at seminars and at. informal dixcussions around — the dinner table centered 6n + the needs for an urban, indus- - tria) xociely. Horton constant- ly tried to keep a light note — on the conversation. but fre- © quently’ when he told stories — that were supposed to be fun-- ny he would forget the punch - line. He was an incessant - name droper, talking of some : to have had with Walter Reu- ther, Reinhold Niebuhr, Mrs. Roosevelt or James Carey. There was a d deat of - ” singing—songs like “Solidarity Forever” and “Picket Line Rives" and “Samuel Hall.” : Later such “songs Bhall Overcome” atid _ ge re —_ ALL INFORMATI HEREIN IS DATE_24> b1-9S) ENCLOSURE to ms UNCL > an (Indicate page, name of newapaper, city and state.) Parga THE NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN Washville, Tennesse Date: Edition: 1/25/65 Author: NAT CALDWELL Editor: JOHN SEIGENTHAL Tike: Higntan PER Foe. ScHbo. — 1$-C Character: Classification: L£/-3Y Submitting Office: