Myles Horton
(1905-1995)
Probably the closest in spirit we have in America to a hybrid of Will Rogers and Paulo Freire. The story of Highlander is Myles Horton's story. It is also America's and the struggle for civil rights and social justice. How Highlander Center became the green house for the education and organization of freedom fighters and union organizers in the south during the 1950's. The story of Myles Horton is the struggle as old as America's to bring decency into the world. The long haul. Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Pete Seeger... reading like a roll call of activists, were some of the participants. My job is to provide...a climate which nurtures islands of decency, where people can learn in such a way that they continue to grow.
Kohl's "The Long Haul" is a comprehensive oral history and loving portrait of Horton and the work of the Highlander Center.