| Title: |
Tent City/Freedom City Geographies: Teaching beyond the 'Canon' of Civil Rights Movement Memory |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Katrina Stack (ORCID 0009-0007-4454-5810); Derek H. Alderman |
| Source: |
Geography Teacher. 2024 21(1):50-57. |
| Availability: |
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: |
N |
| Page Count: |
8 |
| Publication Date: |
2024 |
| Sponsoring Agency: |
National Science Foundation (NSF); National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) |
| Document Type: |
Journal Articles; Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: |
Civil Rights; Activism; African Americans; African American History; Agricultural Occupations; Social Justice; Racism; Teaching Methods; Geography Instruction |
| Geographic Terms: |
Tennessee; Alabama |
| DOI: |
10.1080/19338341.2024.2315533 |
| ISSN: |
1933-8341; 1752-6884 |
| Abstract: |
The background and resources presented in this article support teaching about two Tent/Freedom Cities--in Fayette County, Tennessee, and in Lowndes County, Alabama--that were built as a form of civil rights resistance and for housing Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers evicted by oppressive white landlords for marching, attending mass mobilization meetings, and trying to register to vote. The authors conceptualize these Tent/Freedom Cities as forms of Black place-making and anti-racist mobility work and suggest that teaching about these insurgent encampments represents a neglected chapter within the "canon" of what has tended to be commemorated and taught about the Civil Rights Movement. They identify photographs, first-person accounts, and other primary source documentation for exploring and teaching Tent/ Freedom City geographies. In doing so, the authors surmise there is an opportunity to focus on the under-discussed intersection of civil rights struggle and the production of home--complete with moments of lived resistance, resourcefulness, community-building, self-defense, and joy. |
| Abstractor: |
ERIC |
| Entry Date: |
2024 |
| Accession Number: |
EJ1420245 |
| Database: |
ERIC |