Lessons From Myles Horton and the Highlander Folk School: Cultivating Critical Empathy Through Transformational Leadership as Pedagogy

Introduction

A democratic society is comprised of knowledgeable citizens who are prepared to engage in the political, economic, and cultural spheres public life (Banks, 1990; Carr, 1998; Evans-Winters & Hoff, 2011). Educational institutions in the U.S. are designed and tasked with that goal in mind, however, Jennings (2020) concluded that education at all levels in the U.S. are designed to reproduce one type of citizen—he who aligns with whiteness. Since its inception, education in the U.S. has been designed to affirm those who are White, male, Christian, heterosexual, and able-bodied and convince the other that assimilation to the mean is preferred for a functioning society, therefore hindering the ability of the U.S. to fully function as a pluralistic multicultural democracy (Gay, 1997). Educational institutions in the U.S., systemically, are white spaces that treat Blackness as an undesirable trait, a liability, a disability (Anderson, 2015; Allen, 2022; Paul-Emile, 2017) and disregards the knowledge (cultural and otherwise) Black and other People of Color bring to educational spaces as learners and teachers (Milner, 2017; Solórzano & Yosso, 2001; Yosso, 2005). For Black and other marginalized students navigating education at all levels in the U.S., it is often a struggle to find community, to obtain social and cultural capital within the white educational space, and to advocate for oneself (Tatum, 1992; 2017; 2019). As such, teacher-activists play a vital role in creating spaces for marginalized people to learn and thrive in a system that was not designed for them.

Paperson (2017) created the term ‘scyborg’ to describe individuals who pushed back against systemic oppression and marginalization while navigating the systems that create systemic oppression and marginalization. Individuals considered as scyborgs are from and in the system, but not of and a part of the system (Chen, 2022; Paperson, 2017). In this respect, teacher-activists are those who have benefited from an educational system that reproduces white supremacy whether they are racialized as Black or White and understand the colonial and oppressive nature of said educational system. These individuals fundamentally subvert the colonial project that is U.S. education to render it a more equitable, inclusive, and justice-oriented enterprise. Alridge (2020) wrote of such teachers during the Civil Rights Movement, noting that while they were not present on the front lines of the movement, they did practice activism through “pedagogical approaches that vigorously promoted ideas and ideals of freedom, democracy, and liberation” (p. 3). Teacher activism can be defined as the support for socially just practices and policies and the intentional championing of freedom and equality in education (Alridge, 2020). To further contextualize the notion of teacher activism, Alridge (2020) explained:

[B]lack teachers of this era [were] ‘hidden provocateurs’ who often advocated for equality in the education of [B]lack students and a culturally relevant education for [B]lack students in desegregated schools…While historically the teaching profession has upheld the status quo, [B]lack teachers nevertheless engaged in ‘intellectual activism,’ teaching ideals of freedom, justice, and democracy, which have stirred younger generations of students to action. (p. 5)