1. Countdown to the 75th! It's less than a week until the 75th Anniversary Celebration, Aug 31 - Sept 2, where we will be welcoming more than 750 people for cultural performances, educational institutes, and workshops -- and seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Check out the Highlander website -- www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary -- for more details and exciting daily updates about the programs. A few are highlighted below as well. Please note we can no longer accept registration or payment for any Anniversary event by mail. However. you can pay online at www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary/payment.asp until Tuesday, August 28 and onsite using cash or check. For easier check-in, we recommend online pre-payment. We look forward to seeing you at the Celebration!

Click for more information about Highlander's 75th Anniversary Celebration

For those of you who can't be with us for the 75th, we appreciate your support. Please take a moment now to go to Groundspring.org and make a special 75th anniversary gift of $7.50, or $75, or $750.

2. Full Program for the 75th Anniversary Celebration Now Online!
The full program for the 75th Anniversary Celebration is now available online, with an exciting line-up of conversations, workshops, cultural performances, and more.

You can see an overview of the program at www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary/program.asp, or view the full schedule for each day by visiting the following pages:

• Friday Schedule - www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary/program-friday.asp
• Saturday Schedule - www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary/program-saturday.asp
• Sunday Schedule - www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary/program-sunday.asp

3. Speakers for the Opening Plenary
The opening plenary for the Celebration on Saturday, September 1, at 10:00 a.m. will feature an extraordinary line-up of speakers, all of whom have extensive experience fighting for social justice and strong ties to Highlander. They are:

• Helen Lewis, Founder of Appalachian Studies
• Hollis Watkins, Southern Echo
• Stewart Acuff, AFL-CIO
• Pancho Arguelles, Colectivo Flatlander
• Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, Judson Memorial Church
• Elandria Williams, Highlander Center
• Conrad Honicker, Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

The plenary will also include an original choral reading written by actor/playwright John O'Neal about the story of the land(s) on which Highlander has been located, as well as music and other presentations.

For more information about the plenary speakers, see www.highlandercenter.org/anniversary/plenary-speakers.asp.

4. Directors' Conversation
On Sunday, September 2, Highlander Director Pam McMichael will moderate a conversation with six former Highlander Directors - Suzanne Pharr, Jim Sessions, Hubert Sapp, Helen Lewis, Mike Clark and Frank Adams.

The former Directors will share their thoughts on Highlander's legacy, and more: the critical things on their mind now in building a strong movement for social change, the issues and challenges as well as the hope and possibilities they see facing us, and the charge they would give Highlander for moving forward at this point in its history.

We are very happy to see these former directors and will miss John Gaventa, who will be with us in spirit, but whose current responsibilities in England have to trump his Highlander loyalties.

5. Blogging the 75th
Encouraged by our younger staff members, Highlander is setting up a new blog called "View from the Hill" at www.viewfromthehill.org.

The blog will help us communicate more effectively with our friends and supporters, and it will provide a new forum for dialogue about social justice issues and organizing efforts in the region.

We will inaugurate the View from the Hill blog with posts, pictures, and videos by Highlander staff and participants during the 75th Anniversary Celebration. So if you can't attend the Celebration, check out www.viewfromthehill.org to see what's going on.

6. Highlander Myspace & Facebook Pages

Highlander has recently set up Myspace and Facebook pages for Highlander itself and for the Seeds of Fire youth leadership training program.

Young people, and many older people are well, are increasingly using Myspace and Facebook to stay in touch with friends and colleagues and to share updates and information about their lives and work. In conjunction with the View from the Hill blog, the new Myspace and Facebook pages will help Highlander make new friends and stay in touch with old ones more easily.

To check out the Myspace pages and become a friend of Highlander and Seeds of Fire, visit www.myspace.com/highlandercenter and www.myspace.com/seedsoffireprogram.

If your are a member of Facebook, go to www.facebook.com and search for Highlander there.

7. A New Play about Lillian Johnson & the Founding of Highlander
The Cowan Center for the Arts in Cowan, Tennessee is presenting a new play this summer called Aunt Lillian's Deed, about how Dr. Lillian Johnson donated her property to Myles Horton and Don West to establish what became the Highlander Folk School.

Cowan is in south-central Tennessee, about 60miles west of Chattanooga and near Monteagle and Sewanee. The play will be performed September 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 28, and 29, and October 4, 5, and 6. Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 7:30. Sunday matinees are at 2:30

For more information, see www.highlandercenter.org/n-aunt-lillian.asp.

8. Other Highlander Activities

You might think that all Highlander has been doing this summer is preparing for the 75th Anniversary Celebration, but that's not true. What is true is that we've been too busy to tell you about the other things we've been doing. So here's a brief list:

• July 22-28, we held a wildly successful Seeds of Fire youth leadership training camp attended by 31 youth activists and adult allies from across the region. Several of these groups are coming back for the 75th anniversary.
  
  
• For months, Highlander staff were deeply involved in helping plan and organize the U.S. Social Forum, held in Atlanta June 27- July 1, where 15,000 activists convened to make another world possible. Staff served on the national program committee, helped plan and coordinate interpretation, translation, and cultural programming, and helped plan and staff the Youth Tent. At the Forum, staff participated in a workshop on popular education, and facilitated workshops on intergenerational organizing, immigrant organizing, multilingual capacity building, and Highlander's history.
  
  
• In our immigration work, we have just completed an intensive four-month leadership training program for members of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
  
  
• We have been working with the University of Tennessee, one of our local partners, to organize a social justice film series at UT this fall. Details will be posted on our website and in the View blog as soon as they are available.
  
  
• As typical in the summer months, we have hosted several groups visiting from area colleges and conducted sessions on Highlander history and methodologies.
  
  
• We have continued our listening, outreach and planning for the new multi-racial, intergenerational leadership institute, which will begin later this year with participants from Appalachia, the Deep South, and immigrant communities.

We look forward to telling you more about these and other activities in the coming months.

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