THE SINGING HEART OF
          
                               HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL
          
                                  Vicki K. Carter
                         The Pennsylvania State University
          
          
                                      ABSTRACT
          
               From 1932 until 1961, the Highlander Folk School 
          conducted informal adult education programs focused on the 
          southern labor movement, citizenship, and civil rights.  
          Beginning in 1935 until her death in 1956, Zilphia Horton, 
          first wife of Highlander's founder Myles Horton, enhanced the 
          cultural pluralism of the school by developing a curriculum 
          which incorporated and elevated the importance of folk music, 
          dance, and drama.  This paper discusses the life and 
          contributions of Zilphia Horton, Highlander's "singing heart," 
          and addresses the role of music in particular, and the arts in 
          general, at Highlander.  Two frequently neglected areas of 
          adult education history (women and culture) are highlighted by 
          examining Zilphia Horton's presence at Highlander.       
          
          
          
          
               In Charleston, South Carolina, during the fall of 1945, 
          the Food and Tobacco Workers walked out on the American 
          Tobacco Company. The predominantly black and female union 
          membership persisted in their strike, picketing for more than 
          five months through periods of miserably wet and cold 
          weather.  To raise drooping spirits they began to "sing 
          themselves away" with the hymn "I'll Be All Right Someday" 
          ("Moment of History," 1965, p. 37).  Nearly 45 years later in 
          Beijing's Tiananmen Square, a pro-democracy student was 
          photographed wearing a T-shirt bearing the English words "We 
          Shall Overcome" (Anderson, 1990).  These two events, occurring 
          at opposite sides of the world and separated by two 
          generations, were nevertheless joined through the artistry and 
          life work of Zilphia Mae Johnson Horton, portrayed by Dunson 
          (1965, p. 28) as the "singing heart" of Highlander Folk 
          School.
          
               From 1932 until 1961, Highlander Folk School provided 
          adult education centered around the southern labor movement, 
          citizenship, and civil rights (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989).  
          In UNEARTHING SEEDS OF FIRE, Adams cautioned that school 
          founder Myles Horton's dominant personality may have 
          overshadowed not only its plan for social action but also 
          other talented and committed individuals associated with 
          Highlander.  Myles' first wife, Zilphia, was such a person.  
          This paper examines Zilphia Horton and her distinguished work 
          in the categories of teaching and administration, drama, and 
          folk music.  Zilphia Horton's contribution to the evolution of 
          the well-known song "We Shall Overcome" is also traced.  The 
          legacy left by Zilphia Horton and an analysis of the role of 
          folk music in particular, and the arts in general, in 
          education for social action at Highlander Folk School complete 
          this study.
          
               For the most part the paper uses secondary sources which 
          have recounted the history of the Highlander Folk School.  
          These sources were drawn mostly from the literature of adult 
          education and from music history.  Highlander's various 
          initiatives are more than adequately covered in the major 
          scholarly efforts of Glen and Aimee Horton (Myles Horton's 
          second wife), in the more emotional but less objective work of 
          Adams and Bledsoe, and a variety of journal articles, essays, 
          and books, some about Highlander and others by or about Myles 
          Horton.  A few of these authors knew Zilphia Horton, most did 
          not.  In reading widely in the adult education sources, the 
          contributions of Zilphia Horton were unfailingly mentioned, 
          woven into the thematic fabric of the different movements, 
          residential sessions, and events.  At no time, however, was 
          Zilphia taken from the margins and put at the center where her 
          work could be explored as standing on its own.  In many ways, 
          in fact, the literature of music history acclaimed her work 
          more than the studies of Highlander did.  Therefore, it is in 
          the spirit of the recent historiography of women and other 
          marginalized groups that this "sidebar" highlighting Zilphia 
          Horton is offered as a way to view Highlander's history a bit
          differently. 
          
                                      Zilphia
          
               Zilphia Mae Johnson was born on April 14, 1910 in the 
          mining town of Spadra, Arkansas, where her father owned and 
          operated a coal mine.  She was of Spanish and Indian 
          heritage.  Zilphia played and studied piano from the age of 
          five, and then attended the College of the Ozarks from 1929 
          through 1932 where she majored in music.  Following graduation 
          she taught school in Arkansas for two years and, during this 
          time, won top awards in the state for piano and voice.  
          Zilphia's interest in the labor movement began to unfold when 
          radical Presbyterian minister, Claude Williams, attempted to 
          organize her father's workers for the Progressive Miners' 
          Union.  After she refused to honor her father's request to 
          sever her connection with Williams and his church, she was 
          disowned and forced from her home because of her 
          "revolutionary Christian attitudes" (Glen, 1988, p. 34).
          
               Zilphia's appearance at Highlander Folk School, early in 
          1935, set in motion events which helped make the school a 
          landmark in adult education for social change.  Her visit to 
          Highlander was intended to provide her with a fundamental 
          understanding of the labor movement in preparation for moving 
          on to a more established school such as Brookwood Labor 
          College.  Instead of the brief sojourn she had planned, 
          Zilphia married Myles Horton just two months after her arrival 
          and stayed for 21 years (Bledsoe, 1969; Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 
          1989; M. Horton, 1990; Parker & Parker, 1991; ZILPHIA HORTON 
          FOLK MUSIC COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 6, 1964).       
          
               One of Highlander's goals was "conservation and 
          enrichment of the indigenous cultural values of the mountains" 
          (cited in Peters & Bell, 1987, p. 250).  The Danish folk 
          school, conceived in the late nineteenth century by Bishop 
          N.S.F. Grundtvig and Kristen Kold, was one of the models Myles 
          Horton had used to conceptualize a structure for the school he 
          created in 1932 (Adams, 1975).  The Danish schools had 
          revitalized native culture, emphasizing music and poetry 
          because "a revolutionary spark seemed inherent in these ways 
          of communicating" (p. 23).  Zilphia's strong determination to 
          use her musical and dramatic talents in an activist manner 
          provided the impetus for fulfilling the objective of similar 
          cultural components at Highlander (Adams, 1975; Glen, 1988; A. 
          Horton, 1989).
          
               Accounts of Zilphia's personal traits and attributes 
          reveal a number of seemingly disparate characteristics.  For 
          example, Glen (1988) represented her as calm and quiet.  
          Aleine Austin (1991), who knew Zilphia as a Highlander student 
          and teacher, portrayed her as a tall woman having high cheek 
          bones, almond shaped eyes, long black hair, and a "completely 
          open and natural manner" (p. 49).  Pete Seeger described her 
          singing voice as unpretentious, not the "show-off" kind 
          (Austin, 1991).  Yet, Adams (1975) and Myles Horton (1990) 
          both reported that Mrs. Horton, who subsequently bragged about 
          the accomplishment, was accurate enough with a pistol to 
          extinguish a cigarette.  Glen (1988) and Austin (1991) further 
          describe her as dynamic, vital, buoyant, and charismatic which 
          seem to support this latter depiction.  According to Bledsoe 
          (1969) her alto voice was strong, powerful, and intense; she 
          encouraged people to sing, whether in small groups or in the 
          thousands, whether they were attending a residential session 
          or walking the picket line. 
          
               Through her ability to relate warmly to people who 
          differed from her and from each other, Zilphia was able to 
          inspire trust and confidence and was able to help people 
          forget personal problems and begin to forge understanding.  
          Seeger commented that her "straightforward directness couldn't 
          help but affect anybody who came into contact with her," and 
          her approach to music and singing favored Black singers and 
          the Black church (Austin, 1991, p. 50).  All sorts of people 
          who, under normal circumstances, would not sing with 
          strangers, would sing for Zilphia.  During evenings at 
          Highlander she would share the songs she had collected, often 
          playing traditional mountain instruments in accompaniment.  
          Having sung together, the cohesion required for sharing 
          commitments became easier (Adams, 1975; Austin, 1991).       
          
               In their personal lives, the Hortons lived simply, 
          starting out in a one-room log cabin without running water.  
          They had two children: a son, Thorsten, born in 1943, and a 
          daughter, Charis, born in 1945 (Adams, 1975).  In a St. Louis 
          POST DISPATCH article commemorating Highlander's second 
          quarter-century, May Justus, one of the Folk School's friends 
          and neighbors, said Zilphia, more than anyone else, "made glad 
          the hearts of young and old alike" with her musical abilities 
          (cited in Bledsoe, 1969, p. 95).  Zilphia was active in most 
          facets of Highlander Folk School, working, until 1954, without 
          remuneration.  As a member of the teaching staff and the 
          school's musical director from 1935 until 1956, she also 
          served as fund raiser, consultant, lobbyist, evaluator of 
          programs and workshops, and on the Executive Council.  She 
          collected hundreds of songs, published songbooks, and 
          corresponded with famous contemporaries on a variety of topics 
          (Dunson, 1965; M. Horton, 1990; ZILPHIA HORTON FOLK MUSIC 
          COLLECTION, REGISTERS NUMBER 6, 1964). 
          
               Zilphia Horton was considered to be a highly effective, 
          capable, and popular teacher committed to working within 
          Highlander's structure of residential courses, community 
          interests, and extension activities.  As a staff member she 
          also participated in pre- and post-analyses of extension 
          projects and strike activities.  Within three years of her 
          arrival at Highlander Folk School, she had assumed 
          responsibility for an integrated cultural program which 
          enhanced the school's reputation among southern workers while 
          consolidating and enlivening its residential curriculum (Glen, 
          1988).  Zilphia's involvement in activities outside the 
          school's cultural program, some of which are highlighted in 
          the following section, confirms her broad-based skills and 
          overall commitment to social action and other Highlander 
          goals. 
          
                        Zilphia as Teacher and Administrator
          
               Toward the end of 1937, during her second year at 
          Highlander, Zilphia joined other school constituents in La 
          Follette, Tennessee, helping to set up a shirtworkers' union 
          numbering over 1,000 members and organizing an education rally 
          to teach new members basic labor organization.  Union primers 
          were used to acquaint members with parliamentary procedure and 
          methods associated with unionization efforts.  Opening the 
          classes with singing led by Zilphia became a traditional part 
          of this process (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989).  In 1938, along 
          with Eleanor Roosevelt and Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, 
          she attended the first Southern Conference for Human Welfare 
          (S.C.H.W.) convention in Birmingham, Alabama.  The S.C.H.W. 
          was a prominent southern alliance and interracial coalition 
          hoping to relieve economic problems and forge political and 
          racial change in the late 1930s and 1940s (Glen, 1988).
          
               In 1940, Zilphia's activities stretched beyond community 
          and regional interests.  She became a member of the YWCA 
          National Sub-committee on Music (Zilphia Horton Folk Music 
          Collection, 1964).  And, in a dual role as fund-raiser and 
          artist, and for an audience including congressional 
          representatives and cabinet members, Zilphia performed at a 
          December, 1940 benefit concert in Washington, DC.  The event, 
          organized with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, included poetry 
          reading by Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress.  
          Zilphia sang with famed blues singer Huddie "Leadbelly" 
          Ledbetter.  At her urging, Leadbelly premiered his now classic 
          commentary on racial discrimination, "Bourgeois Blues."  The 
          concert was a public relations victory as well as a financial 
          success for the school (Glen, 1988; "Program Assists School," 
          1940; Thomas, 1968).
          
               Zilphia participated in a three-day session to analyze 
          and review the 1942 extension program for C.I.O. unions in New 
          Orleans.  The following year in Knoxville, while continuing to 
          lead the union membership in labor songs, she also trained 
          officers in grievance procedures (Glen, 1988).  In his 
          discussions with Paulo Freire, Myles Horton spoke of his 
          admiration for Zilphia's talent for teaching grievance 
          handling; he felt she kept people's interest by using 
          dramatics and through role-playing, an unnamed technique at 
          that time (Horton & Freire, 1990).
          
               Starting in 1947, as Highlander unsuccessfully struggled 
          to build programs for local farmers, Myles and Zilphia assumed 
          most of the responsibility for course development, education 
          conferences, and rally organization for both white and black 
          union members.  The formation of the first black farmers local 
          in the state was one positive outcome from this initiative 
          (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 1989).  In the late 1940s, having 
          broadened its focus to include the southern labor movement in 
          general, Highlander began renewing its presence in the 
          community, working toward stronger local acceptance of the 
          school's racially integrated structure.  As part of this 
          process, Zilphia presided over a community club between 1950 
          and 1952 (Glen, 1988). 
          
               Also during this time, accusations began which labeled 
          the school as sympathetic toward Communism, accusations which 
          helped to alienate Highlander from its previous partnership 
          with the C.I.O.  An example of this estrangement was found in 
          a disparaging reference to Zilphia and "her notoriously 
          radical husband" in ALABAMA, a publication representing the 
          state's large farming interests (cited in Glen, 1988, p. 
          116).  Reacting to the change in the C.I.O., unions in 
          general, and their increasingly oppressive racist attitudes, 
          Zilphia commented in 1952, "[the unions] have become so 
          reactionary and . . . so complacent they've lost their ideals, 
          and I don't care anything about singing for people like that" 
          (cited in Thomas, 1968, p. 41).  Sometime earlier in her 1945 
          C.I.O. School evaluation, Zilphia had somewhat prophetically 
          noted another union issue, that of gender, when she described 
          the bitterness expressed by male students against women in 
          industry (Glen, 1988).  Thomas recounted that during this 
          period "the labor movement became middle-aged and 
          institutionalized and ceased to be a singing movement" (p. 
          41). 
          
               A small group consisting of Myles, Zilphia, and three new 
          staff members were responsible for coordinating the emerging 
          integration and civil rights program at Highlander.  In 
          anticipation of the movement, the school had developed 
          workshops on public school integration (Glen, 1988; A. Horton, 
          1989).  In November, 1954, Zilphia represented the school at a 
          Charleston, South Carolina N.A.A.C.P. dinner attended by 
          Justice Thurgood Marshall and J. Waties Waring, the judge who 
          had outlawed the exclusion of blacks from Democratic party 
          primaries (Tjerandsen, 1980).  She traveled to Charleston 
          frequently during the developmental stage of the South 
          Carolina Sea Islands Citizenship School, evaluating Johns 
          Island in terms of its potential as a prototype site.  Her 
          first visit included a controversial overnight stay with black 
          project leader Esau Jenkins (Bledsoe, 1969).  For the 
          predominantly black and isolated Sea Islanders, her trip 
          signified "a glimpse into a new world" (cited in A. Horton, 
          1989, p. 218).  Zilphia sang for the islanders at school and 
          at church, her own study of southern music broadened by 
          exposure to their Gullah dialect and "shouting" style of 
          performing the old spirituals.  Zilphia and Myles laid the 
          groundwork for this successful Highlander initiative that was 
          subsequently transferred to the Southern Christian Leadership 
          Conference in 1961 (G. Carawan & C. Carawan, 1989; A. Horton, 
          1989).
          
               Strangely, Zilphia's name