Martha Sue Thrasher is an activist, writer and educator known for her work on civil rights and gathering white students into the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Sue Thrasher | |
---|---|
Born | Martha Sue Thrasher |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Massachusetts at Amherst |
Thesis | International women as popular educators : an inquiry into the nature and implications of everyday experience (1994) |
Early life and education
editThrasher is originally from rural West Tennessee, where she grew as one of four children[1] in a Methodist family.[2] She started college at Lambuth College, then, after working with black students from Lane College during a mock United Nations event she transferred to Scarritt College because it was an integrated school.[3][1] Later, Thrasher received an M.Ed. (1994) and an Ed.D (1996) from the Center for International Education[4] at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.[5]
Activism
editThrasher first became involved in the activist community while a student at Scarritt College where she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee shortly after arriving on campus and learned the basics about grassroots organization and planning.[6][7] In 1963 Thrasher led a group in Nashville, Tennessee to protest against the policies of a local restaurant,[8][9]: 163 with early actions centered on an Easter weekend meeting in Nashville in 1964.[10][11] These actions led to the founding of the Southern Students Organizing Committee, and Thrasher served as its first executive secretary.[8][12] As the executive director of the Southern Students Organizing Committee, Thrasher would consistently host gatherings at her home with other local activist to plan, collaborate and work together;[10]: 36 she was the only woman who served as an officer in the organization.[9] During her tenure, she organized and led the “white folks project” during the Mississippi summer[13] where Thrasher aimed to include more white people in the civil rights movement by actively recruiting white Americans.[10] In 1970, Thrasher went on to found (with some of her SSOC counterparts), the Institute for Southern Studies, a research center that advocates for progressive political and social causes that affect that Southern United States.[14][7]
Thrasher's work in the civils rights movement is also covered in J. Anthony Lukas's book, Don't shoot we are your children,[15] which was reviewed by Kurt Vonnegut in Life magazine.[16]
Later life
editIn 1978 Thrasher transitioned to a job at the Highlander Center where she worked to organize their archives and conducting oral histories and sharing the stories with the public.[17][18] Thrasher retired from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2013.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b Woods, Barbara A. (2003). "Working in the shadows: Southern women and civil rights". Southern women at the millennium : a historical perspective. Missouri University Press. Columbia : University of Missouri Press. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-0-8262-1505-5.
- ^ O'Leary, Dillon (1971-07-10). "Youth as nigger". The Ottawa Journal. p. 40. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ Woods, Saralee Terry (2000-12-31). "White women recall roles in civil rights movement". The Tennessean. p. 59. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "Campus Life: Massachusetts; University Helps Its Workers Take Their 'Next Steps'". The New York Times. 1991-03-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ a b "Sue Thrasher (M.Ed. 1994; Ed.D. 1996) | Center for International Education". www.umass.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ Sinsheimer, Joe (June 30, 1999). "Interview with Sue Thrasher, Civil Rights Movement Archive" (Interview).
- ^ a b "Sue Thrasher oral history interview, 2017-06-05". digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ a b Evans, Sara M. (Sara Margaret) (1979). Personal politics : the roots of women's liberation in the civil rights movement and the new left. New York: Knopf. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-394-41911-4.
- ^ a b Hidden histories of women in the New South. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. 1994. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-8262-0958-0.
- ^ a b c Michel, Gregg L. (2004), "Building an Organization: The Founding of SSOC", Struggle for a Better South, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 33–62, doi:10.1057/9781403981813_3, ISBN 978-0-230-60256-4, retrieved 2022-03-19
- ^ The Southern Patriot 1966-01: Vol 24 Iss 1. Southern Conference Educational Fund. 1966.
- ^ Rebellion in Black and white : southern student activism in the 1960s. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1-4214-0849-1.
- ^ "125 attend discussion on civil rights". The Lexington Herald. 1964-09-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "From the Archives: We needed to know more about the South". Facing South. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ Carson, Catherine (1971-07-16). "America's young rebels probed". Edmonton Journal. p. 58. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ Vonnegut, Kurt (1971-04-09). Closed season on the kids. Life Magazine, Time Inc. p. 14.
- ^ Jolly, Brad (1981-01-16). "Highlander center story told by New Market worker". Johnson City Press. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ ""I Want to Be Your Friend, You Black Idiot!!": The Dynamics of Majority Involvement in Minority Movements - SSA Centennial". ssacentennial.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
Further reading
editExternal links
edit- 1982 photo of Thrasher
- Sue Thrasher Poster Collection, University of Massachusetts
- Civil Rights Digital Library, Sue Thrasher
- Sue Thrasher oral history interview , Georgia State University