Don West (educator)
Encyclopedia
Don West was an American
writer
, poet
, educator, trade union
organizer, civil-rights activist and a co-founder of the Highlander Folk School.
, Georgia
, the child of North Georgia sharecroppers. In high school
he led a protest against an on-campus showing of the film
The Birth of a Nation
and was eventually expelled for other conflicts. He was also expelled from Lincoln Memorial University
, in Harrogate
, Tennessee
, for leading another protest against the paternalism of the campus, though he eventually returned and graduated in 1929. He went on to study under Alva Taylor and Willard Uphaus at the Vanderbilt Divinity School
in Nashville
and was influenced by the Social Gospel
movement. While a student, he became a Socialist
and participated in labor strikes
in textile
factories and coal mines. Like his eventual collaborator Myles Horton
, he travelled to Denmark
to tour the Danish folk schools
. These were schools that promoted adult education and community engagement. Upon their return, Horton and West co-founded the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee
. West stayed there only a year, before leaving to found his own Southern Folk School and Libraries in Kennesaw, Georgia
.
, but he denied it. In an interview with the Southern Oral History Program, he said, "I have never been a card carrying, dues paying member of the communist party... But I have worked closely with people whom I knew to be communist. And I would never red-bait."
He devoted himself to writing, lectures, and social causes. These included the defense of Angelo Herndon
. He was also an organizational director of the Kentucky Workers Alliance. West later worked in churches in Ohio
and Georgia, taught and became a public school superintendent, and eventually joined the faculty of Oglethorpe University
in Atlanta. Forced to leave Oglethorpe during the period of Red-baiting
, he continued to edit religious publications and teach creative writing. He testified before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in Memphis, Tennessee
. He was subpoena
ed by the House Un-American Activities Committee
but never testified. In the 1940s, his collection of poetry, Clods of Southern Earth, became a literary phenomenon when it sold tens of thousands of copies.
. One of their two daughters was Hedy West
(1938–2005), a well-known folksinger
. West died in Charleston
, West Virginia
, in 1992.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, educator, trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
organizer, civil-rights activist and a co-founder of the Highlander Folk School.
Early life and career
West was born in Devil's Hollow, Gilmer CountyGilmer County, Georgia
Gilmer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 3, 1832 and was named for George Rockingham Gilmer. As of 2000, the population was 23,456. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 28,389...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, the child of North Georgia sharecroppers. In high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
he led a protest against an on-campus showing of the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...
and was eventually expelled for other conflicts. He was also expelled from Lincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University is a private four-year co-educational liberal arts college located in Harrogate, Tennessee.LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park....
, in Harrogate
Harrogate, Tennessee
Harrogate is a city in Claiborne County, Tennessee, United States. The community has been known as "Harrogate" since the 19th century, but did not incorporate as a city by that name until 1993....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, for leading another protest against the paternalism of the campus, though he eventually returned and graduated in 1929. He went on to study under Alva Taylor and Willard Uphaus at the Vanderbilt Divinity School
Vanderbilt Divinity School
The Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion is an interdenominational divinity school at Vanderbilt University, a major research university located in Nashville, Tennessee...
in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and was influenced by the Social Gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
movement. While a student, he became a Socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and participated in labor strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
factories and coal mines. Like his eventual collaborator Myles Horton
Myles Horton
Myles Horton was an American educator, socialist and cofounder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement . Horton taught and heavily influenced most of the era's leaders. They included Dr...
, he travelled to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to tour the Danish folk schools
Folk high school
Folk high schools are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal...
. These were schools that promoted adult education and community engagement. Upon their return, Horton and West co-founded the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee
Monteagle, Tennessee
Monteagle is a town in Franklin, Grundy, and Marion counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Cumberland Plateau region of the southeastern part of the state...
. West stayed there only a year, before leaving to found his own Southern Folk School and Libraries in Kennesaw, Georgia
Kennesaw, Georgia
Kennesaw is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It had a population of 29,783 according to the 2010 census. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Founded in 1887, Kennesaw has a past surrounded with railroad history...
.
Radical and poet
West was often accused of being a CommunistCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, but he denied it. In an interview with the Southern Oral History Program, he said, "I have never been a card carrying, dues paying member of the communist party... But I have worked closely with people whom I knew to be communist. And I would never red-bait."
He devoted himself to writing, lectures, and social causes. These included the defense of Angelo Herndon
Angelo Herndon
Angelo Braxton Herndon was an African American labor organizer arrested and convicted for insurrection after attempting to organize black industrial workers in 1932 in Atlanta, Georgia...
. He was also an organizational director of the Kentucky Workers Alliance. West later worked in churches in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Georgia, taught and became a public school superintendent, and eventually joined the faculty of Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a private liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, an inner suburb of Atlanta. It was chartered in 1835 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, the state's founder.-History:...
in Atlanta. Forced to leave Oglethorpe during the period of Red-baiting
Red-baiting
Red-baiting is the act of accusing, denouncing, attacking or persecuting an individual or group as communist, socialist, or anarchist, or sympathetic toward communism, socialism, or anarchism. The word "red" in "red-baiting" is derived from the red flag signifying radical left-wing politics. In the...
, he continued to edit religious publications and teach creative writing. He testified before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. He was subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed by the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
but never testified. In the 1940s, his collection of poetry, Clods of Southern Earth, became a literary phenomenon when it sold tens of thousands of copies.
Later life
In 1964, West and his wife, Connie West, invested in the establishment of the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, Summers County, West VirginiaSummers County, West Virginia
Summers County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,927. Its county seat is Hinton. Summers County was created by an act of the West Virginia General Assembly on February 27, 1871 from parts of Fayette, Greenbrier, Mercer and Monroe...
. One of their two daughters was Hedy West
Hedy West
Hedy West was an American folksinger and songwriter.West was of the same generation as Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and others of the American folk music revival. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's best loved and best known folk songs...
(1938–2005), a well-known folksinger
Folksinger
----Folksinger is an album by folk singer-songwriter Phranc, released in 1985.Phranc's first solo LP fused elements of her punk rock past with acoustic folk music...
. West died in Charleston
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, in 1992.
Sources
- James J. Lorence, Biography from the New Georgia EncyclopediaNew Georgia EncyclopediaThe New Georgia Encyclopedia is a web-based encyclopedia containing over 2,000 articles about the state of Georgia.The Georgia Humanities Council, the Office of the Governor of Georgia, the University of Georgia Press, and the University System of Georgia/GALILEO have collaborated in the funding...
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-2569 - "A Radical of Long Standing," by Sheryl James, St. Petersburg Times, 1989 http://www.aldha.org/donwest.htm
- James J. Lorence, A Hard Journey: The Life of Don West (University of Illinois Press, 2007). ISBN 978-0-252-03231-8
Selected works
- Crab-Grass (poetry) (1931)
- Songs for Southern Workers: Songbook of the Kentucky Workers Alliance. (1937; reprinted, Huntington, WV: Appalachian Movement Press, 1973)
- Clods of Southern Earth (poetry, drawings by Harold Price) (New York: Boni and Gaer, 1946)
- No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems, ed. by Jeff Biggers and George Brosi (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004)