MOSAIC

Highlander Center Burned

The main office building at the Highlander Education and Research Center in New Market, Tennessee, burned down on March 29, 2019. Highlander, a center for civil rights and social justice, was founded in 1932. Near the ruins was found a white power symbol associated with an assailant accused of killed 50 and wounding 39 in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, two weeks before. “We are not surprised that this space, one where marginalized people working across sectors, geographies and identities show up consistently, has been repeatedly targeted over our 87 years of existence,” the center said in a statement.

Established by Tennessean Myles Horton as the Highlander Folk School to aid mine and textile workers in unionizing, the facility became a hub for civil rights campaigners and community organizers. Horton, a Bible school teacher and YMCA instructor, had been seeking a way to teach that “would allow me to bring