The 1948-1951 post-WW2 Long Trips to Tennessee were led by Eleanor Hogan, assisted by Sheila Salder (1950-1951). Participants visited the Highlander Folk School, African American Farming Community of Bakewell, Tennessee Valley Authority, and Ducktown. Along the way they stopped at the Amish market at Lancaster, Gettysberg, and Harpers Ferry. They focused on civil rights, labor/unionization, government efforts on behalf of the people, and the use and abuse of natural resources.
Visit the 1948 image gallery to see pictures from the trip.
Dr. Salvatore Vascellaro's dissertation describes the shift from the pre- to post-war trips. He writes:
"In stark contrast to the earlier trips, the postwar trips were taken during a period of unprecedented economic growth, in which divisions between rich and poor were lessening. Migrations to the cities in search of defense jobs had changed the demography of the nation. The resulting concentration of African Americans in urban areas fueled the fight for civil rights. The rhetoric that supported the war also supported this fight and helped stimulate in education an 'intercultural' movement to 'bring behaviors in line with democratic ideals.' Mitchell was a proponent. She now emphasized how a teacher's knowledge of racial and ethnic differences (among students) was critical to planning curriculum...The ten-day trips were to areas of the South that were changing rapidly or held the promise of future change. The students traveled, over the course of ten days, a total distance of one-thousand miles each way--stopping at sites Hogan considered socially important" (p. 173-174-176).
