We Shall Overcome: The Highlander Center's History Of Organizing Ordinary Citizens For Social Justice
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At a recent rally in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump followers chanted in unision, "send her back," as the President escalated attacks against four freshman Democratic Congresswomen or color - including Massachusetts representative Ayanna Pressley. This followed a series of tweets by President Trump, in which he told the four elected officials that they should go back to the countries “from which they came.” The racist tweets and charged atmosphere is part of a nationwide volatile environment which has contributed to the sharp increase in hate crimes worldwide in the last three years.

One such incident is the March arson attack on the historic social justice leadership school, Tennessee’s Highlander Education and Research Center.) During its nearly 90-year history, The Highlander has helped train a cadre of well known community organizers and activists including Martin Luther King Jr, Pete Seeger and Rosa Parks. Recently, the center’s co-directors traveled to Boston, raising awareness and funds for the rebuilding of their physical space.

Guests:

Ash-Lee Woodard-Henderson - Co-Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center

Reverend Allyn Maxfield-Steel - Co-Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center

Peter Dreier - Professor of Political Science and Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College

Later in the show…

The Gleason Street School is in trouble.

Its teachers are underpaid. Its headmaster is clueless. And the members of its parent council are at each others’ throats.

We should mention the school is fictional. But the story, a new drama from Company One Theatre, comes alive in the very real halls and classrooms of Back Bay’s Commonwealth School. Greater Good is an interactive theater experience which starts in the now and then takes the audience back in time to a pivotal moment that sealed Gleason Street’s fate in a narrative that explores the intersection of privilege, education, governance and democracy in our society.

Greater Good) will be 'onstage' at the Commonwealth School until August 17, 2019.)

Guests:

Kirsten Greenidge - Playwright and creator of Greater Good. Kirsten is currently a Mellon Fellow and Howlround Artist in Residence at Company One.

Ilana Brownstein - Dramaturg and Director of New Work at Company One Theatre.

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UTR is produced by Franziska Monahan. Doug Shugarts is our engineer.

Under the Radar is a production of WGBH.