This week, our guest was historian, activist, and top-notch storyteller Dr. Kaye Whitehead. In honor of this week’s Juneteenth holiday, Dr. Kaye told Jasmine about how she always tries to uplift the “ordinary” people who have carried the baton of the racial justice movement.
She mentions her own father, who was involved in the civil rights movement in South Carolina. While he was working one evening at a recruitment center, white supremacists cut the power to their block. Instead of panicking, everyone at the center laid on the floor, held hands, and began to sing.
As she tells this story, Dr. Kaye mentions the Highlander Institute in Tennessee, where many of these strategies were developed and taught. It trained Rosa Parks prior to her historic role in the Montgomery bus boycott. Congressman John Lewis once told a journalist that he had his first meal in an integrated setting at Highlander: "I was a young adult, but I had never eaten a meal in the company of Black and white diners.” The famous civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome was even adapted from a gospel song by Highlander music director Zilphia Horton.
Today, the Highlander Institute continues to work on issues of democratic participation and economic justice. But the fight for racial justice is far from over. In 2019, a fire destroyed a building that housed offices at the Highlander Center and white supremacist graffiti was found at the site. Luckily nobody was hurt, but many historical documents, speeches, and artifacts were destroyed.
But the spirit of Highlander, along with everyone the center has trained and inspired, lives on. As Dr. Kaye says, none of us can cross the finish line on our own — all we need to do is each carry the baton a little further down the road. We may be in another challenging moment in history, but we shall overcome.
Standing Up (And Laying Down) For Justice