Description

Schedule of activities for Citizenship and Integration workshop on June 15-21, 1958. Schedule lists this workshop as Registration and Voting workshop, but it is on the same dates.Highlander's Citizenship Schools, conducted by Septima Clark, Esau Jenkins, and Bernice Robinson, were instructional programs both at Highlander and in the community to teach primarily poor African Americans to read, write, pass voter registration tests, and how to take advantage of community institutions such as banks and post offices. These classes helped over 50,000 people register to vote by 1964. However, the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act diminished the need for these schools, so Clark and Robinson shifted their focus to voter encouragement and helping fight the war on poverty. They trained women to establish community health and child-care centers and provided education and vocational training. Jenkins continued similar work on the Sea Islands. (Citizenship Schools and the Civil Rights Movement by Laura Westhoff, History Matters Vol. 26)

Record Contributed By

Tennesse State Library and Archives

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Tennessee