MLK Knoxville

Civil-rights activists at the Highlander Folk School in Grundy County, Tennessee, 1957. Martin Luther King, then 28, had studied there. With him are folksinger Pete Seeger; Charis Horton, daughter of Highlander founder Myles Horton; legendary activist Rosa Parks; and Ralph Abernathy, future president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Four years later, the Highlander Center moved to Knoxville, where it remained for about 10 years. It’s now located near New Market. Photo courtesy of the Highlander Research and Education Center.