Renee Reed
Reporter
February 18, 2005
New Milligan College assistant professor of Bible and humanities, Dr. Jason
Bembry, has a new discussion group on campus. The Myles Horton group had their
first meeting on Jan. 31 in Derthick Hall in which faculty and students joined
together to discuss various issues including poverty and racism.
The group is named after a Cumberland University student, Myles Horton, from the 1920s who noticed and studied the extreme poverty of the Appalachian region. As a result of his observations, he established the Highlander Center in Grundy County, Tenn.
“This center was designed to get people together to discuss their problems and seek solutions for them together,” said Bembry. “Over time, Highlander became a training ground for those committed to confronting racism.”
Many well known civil rights leaders came to Highlander to speak and share ideas including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.
“To honor the legacy of Myles Horton, I thought it would be a good idea to name our discussion group after him,” Bembry said.
Five faculty members and five students attended the first discussion. The group watched the documentary “Ethnic Notions,” which is an examination of how African-Americans were portrayed in various media in the 19th and 20th centuries
The next discussion, which will be held Feb. 28 at 4 p.m., will be looking at D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “Birth of a Nation.” The location of the meeting will be announced at a later date. All faculty and students are welcome to join.
“The format of our discussion meeting is certainly not formally fixed! I guess I don’t think in terms of membership for the (Myles Horton discussion group). It’s more like participation or sharing of viewpoints,” Bembry said.