>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< VIEW FROM THE HILL - #5; November 23, 2005 A Monthly E-mail Update Highlander Research and Education Center www.highlandercenter.org >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< CONTENTS 1. Pam McMichael Hired as Highlander's Director 2. A Report on the Gulf Coast Justice & Solidarity Tour 3. A Report on the Nashville Public Library Conference on Highlander's History 4. Upcoming Workshop on the Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act 5. Repairs and Accessibility Upgrades to Highlander's Workshop Center >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 1. PAM MCMICHAEL HIRED AS HIGHLANDER'S DIRECTOR The following is a message from Gilbert Martinez, Chair of the Highlander Board: I am pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has hired Pam McMichael as Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, effective immediately. She has done a wonderful job as interim director since March of this year and brings tremendous insight into the particular issues challenging the southern states and the progressive movement. Pam is a Kentucky native and long-time social justice activist in her home community of Louisville, and has extensive experience throughout the southern region. For over two decades now, her organizing and cultural work have focused on connecting people and issues across divides with particular focus on helping build a strong anti-racist movement. She has extensive nonprofit management experience and is a national fellow with the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership program to address the growing crisis in U.S. democracy. Pam has strong support from staff and Board. I'm confident that her unique blend of skills -- her fundraising ability, her organizing skills, and her keen political analysis -- will help Highlander continue its important role in the progressive movement -- helping bring people together to fight for social, economic and environmental justice. Please join me in welcoming Pam to Highlander. We are fortunate to have such a skilled, talented and compassionate person as director. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 2. A REPORT ON THE GULF COAST JUSTICE & SOLIDARITY TOUR On November 2-5, 2005, Highlander staff members Tufara Waller Muhammad and Susan Williams participated in the Gulf Coast Environmental, Racial, Social & Economic Justice & Solidarity Tour. Hollis Watkins from Southern Echo, and a Highlander Board member, also participated in the tour. During the tour, participants met with people from local organizations in Gulfport and New Orleans, and helped with clean- up efforts in United Houma Nation, a Native American community of 3500 people in Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and Jefferson parishes in Louisiana. The tour also included a strategy session with local groups to discuss how people have been affected by the hurricane and its aftermath and what each of the groups is doing. Groups are moving from meeting people's immediate needs, which are still urgent, to thinking about how to rebuild communities and help people to return. Susan and Tufara were humbled by the destruction they saw -- including abandoned cars with mudlines on their roofs, waterlines on houses 10 feet high or more, buildings destroyed, downed trees, and huge piles of trash in the streets. At the same time, they were impressed by the commitment of people in the area to help those in need and to rebuild their communities in a just and equitable way. Local groups have been bearing much of the burden of this work. The Common Ground Collective in New Orleans, for example, one of the groups visited on the tour, has processed over $8 million in supplies and helped over 16,000 people in four parishes. The insights Tufara and Susan gained on the tour are informing Highlander's ongoing efforts to support local groups dealing with the hurricane and its aftermath. We will keep you informed about these efforts. The tour was organized by a coalition of local and regional organizations in the Gulf Coast, including the Southwest Workers Union, Southern Echo, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and Project South. Other participants included representatives from the Methodist Federation for Social Action, the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, the United Electrical Workers (District 2), St. Louis Jobs with Justice, the Mississippi Workers Center, and the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance. Pictures and links to information about the tour are available on our Web site at www.highlandercenter.org/photo-gallery-gulf- coast-tour.asp. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 3. A REPORT ON THE NASHVILE PUBLIC LIBRARY CONFERENCE ON HIGHLANDER'S HISTORY On November 12th, the Nashville Public Library held a day-long conference on the history of Highlander, "Education for Social Change: The Story of the Highlander Folk School from 1932 to the Present." Over 100 people attended the conference , which featured workshops on Myles Horton's life and vision, Zilphia Horton and the power of culture, the closing of the Highlander Folk School, and the continuing spirit of adult education at Highlander, as well as a panel discussion about Highlander's history. Among the speakers were staff members Pam McMichael and Susan Williams, Emeritus Board members Scott Bates and Lewis Sinclair, former directors Frank Adams and Jim Sessions, noted folk singers and former staff members Guy and Candie Carawan, lawyers George Barrett and Cecil Branstetter (who represented Highlander when it was Red-baited during the 1950s and 1960s), and author John Egerton. The conference was a wonderful chance to learn first-hand about Highlander's work and hear some of the voices of its living history. Many thanks to the Nashville Public Library and to all who attended and participated in the event! Pictures from the conference are available on our Web site at www.highlandercenter.org/photo-gallery-nashville.asp. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 4. UPCOMING WORKSHOP ON THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT On November 29th and 30th, Highlander will host a workshop to begin developing popular education tools to support the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in 2007. Originally adopted in 1965 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the Voting Rights Act prohibited discrimination in voting because of race. It also banned discriminatory literacy tests and expanded voting rights for non-English speaking Americans. The act played a vital role in increasing voter participation among African Americans and other people of color and led to a dramatic rise in the number of black elected officials. A coalition of national groups including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Congressional Black Caucus has been working to ensure that the act will be reauthorized (and not weakened) in 2007. To complement their efforts, Highlander is working with the NAACP, the United Methodist Women, the African American Human Rights Foundation and other groups to build a broad base of support for reauthorizing the act. Creating popular education tools to teach people about the history and importance of the act is a vital part of this effort. We will provide further updates about our work on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in future issues of View from the Hill and in our print newsletter, Highlander Reports. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< 5. REPAIRS AND ACCESSIBIITY UPGRADES TO HIGHLANDER'S WORKSHOP CENTER Two construction crews are currently working on improvements to our Workshop Center. One crew is building the enclosure for a vertical lift to enhance accessibility. The other crew is making much-needed structural repairs to the dining room and main meeting room. Both projects will be finished in early January. The lift itself will be installed soon after. The new lift and the fully accessible bathroom installed earlier this year at the Workshop Center will help make Highlander's facilities available to all of our constituents. Both the installation of the vertical lift and the repairs to the Workshop Center are part of our 75th Anniversary Capital Campaign, which is raising funds to renovate and upgrade Highlander's existing facilities and to build a new dormitory and a new library. These efforts will ensure that Highlander has the facilities it needs to continue working for social and economic justice for many years to come. For more information about the 75th Anniversary Capital Campaign, contact Charlie Biggs, our Capital Campaign Coordinator, at charlie@highlandercenter.org or (865) 933-3443 x242. >---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>---<>--<>--<>--< To unsubscribe from this e-mail list, or to add someone new, send an e-mail to hrec@highlandercenter.org. Past issues of View from the Hill are available online at www.highlandercenter.org/n-view.asp. Highlander Research and Education Center 1959 Highlander Way New Market, TN 37820 Phone: (865)-933-3443 Fax: (865) 933-3424 www.highlandercenter.org