Photo Courtesy of Jill Carnell Danseco, University of Washington Tacoma
GUITAR MAN. University of Washinton-Tacoma professor Michael Honey will perform music at the Aug. 4 event.
Heather Carawan's childhood was much different than that of a typical American girl, yet it was an enriching experience that still has a profound impact on her to this day. Carawan, who now lives in Parkland, grew up at Highlander Research and Education Center in east Tennessee. Founded in 1932, Highlander has long been at the center of the struggle for racial equality and social justice in the South.
Carawan's parents, Guy and Candie Carawan, were staff members at Highlander and still live near it. Both are folk musicians and activists who dedicate their lives to social justice among the poor of Appalachia and minorities in the South. "I have strong memories of the songs," Carawan said of her childhood. "I was exposed to some great singing."
She recently made a documentary about her parents and Highlander titled "The Telling Takes Me Home." In honor of Highlander's 75th anniversary, a special event will take place in Tacoma Aug. 4 with a screening of the film. Her parents are visiting Washington and will perform music and discuss their experiences.
Major figures of the civil rights movement, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, spent time studying and organizing at Highlander. "A lot of important people came through there," Carawan recalled.
She realized her experience growing up was a bit different from the norm. Many conservatives in the South considered Highlander to be a training camp for radicals and communists, and some of the children in the nearby town where she attended school were prohibited by their parents from associating with Carawan while growing up. She still remembers billboards around the South depicting King at Highlander claiming he was a communist. "A lot of people considered it a radical idea in the 1960s for blacks and whites to get together," Carawan noted.
Her parents grew up in Southern California, and she moved to the Golden State at 18 to attend college. She assumed at first that California would have a more progressive political climate compared to the rural South. However, many of her college classmates were just beginning to grasp progressive ideals. In contrast, "those were ideas that were embedded in me from an early age."
Carawan, who teaches film studies at Pierce College, has screened her documentary at film festivals around the country.
Welcoming remarks and music will be presented at the event by Michael Honey, a professor of history, and civil rights and labor studies at the University of Washington-Tacoma. A noted author, Honey himself has studied at Highlander.
