Highlander Research & Education Center

The Movement School — a heartbeat for radical change in the South since 1932.

For almost a century, Highlander has been the training ground for movement leaders across the South and Appalachia. It trained the union organizers of the labor movements of the 1930s and 40s, then the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement — Rosa Parks trained at Highlander months before the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Septima Clark, Ella Baker, and Thurgood Marshall all came through its doors. Today Highlander builds the leadership of youth, workers, and Southern organizers carrying that same torch. Our own Vonda McDaniel served as Highlander's Co-Executive Director — a personal bond between Highlander and this labor community that we carry forward in her memory.

What Highlander Does

Seeds of Fire

Intergenerational, youth-led organizing — on-the-ground support, mentorship, political education, and skill-based training for the rising activists of today.

Training the Trainers

Multi-day collaborative workshops that bring together cultural organizers to sharpen strategies and frameworks they carry back to their communities.

Septima Clark Learning Center

Highlander's library and archive — collections and programming that weave together the layered history of Southern liberation through movement memory work.

Economics, Governance & Electoral Justice

Civics education, anti-fascist training, protections for organizers during elections, and support for justice partners in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Where Labor & Civil Rights Learned to Fight Together

Highlander's story is the story this app teaches: labor organizing and civil rights as one struggle. From training Southern union organizers in the 1930s, to Citizenship Schools that powered the voting-rights movement, to today's Children's Justice Camp and Seeds of Fire youth programs — Highlander has always believed directly-impacted people hold the solutions to the challenges in their communities. Highlander is led today by Co-Executive Directors Garrett Stark and Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele, carrying forward the legacy of nearly a century of movement leaders — including our own Vonda McDaniel, who served as Co-Executive Director until her passing in 2026.

A Community Partner of Labor Education

Highlander are personal friends of our labor organization, and the bond runs deep — Vonda McDaniel, President of the Nashville Central Labor Council and a beloved leader memorialized on this site, served as Highlander's Co-Executive Director. Labor Education proudly stands with The Movement School and encourages every member, steward, and young organizer to learn from and support their work.

THE SOUTH GOT SOMETHING TO SAY

Educate. Organize. Mobilize. Take the pledge and stand with the Southern movement.

Connect with Highlander Research & Education Center

Want to get involved, partner, or learn more? Reach out through their website.