Items14The creator’s order
  1. 1N. F. S. GrundtvigN. F. S. GrundtvigBorn Sep 8, 1783Grundtvig’s ideas helped inspire Denmark’s folk high schools. He imagined education tied to civic and everyday life, open to people outside the usual academic track. The schools that drew on his ideas turned that argument into a place where young adults could live, study, and talk together.0
  2. 2Myles HortonMyles HortonBorn Jul 9, 1905Horton and fellow organizers founded the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee in 1932. Early workshops worked with labor organizers, bringing people together to think through situations they faced back home. The same approach later supported civil rights organizers who came to learn from one another.0
  3. 3Septima Poinsette ClarkSeptima Poinsette ClarkClark helped turn adult literacy classes into Citizenship Schools, working with Esau Jenkins and Bernice Robinson. On Johns Island, reading and writing lessons addressed barriers that prevented Black residents from registering to vote. Training local teachers helped the program spread beyond the…0
  4. 4Esau JenkinsEsau JenkinsJenkins used rides on his bus to help Johns Island adults practice reading material they might be asked to read when registering to vote. He and his wife Janie helped build the Progressive Club, which hosted the Citizenship School. The bus and the club made education part of places the community…0
  5. 5Bernice RobinsonBernice RobinsonBorn Feb 7, 1914Robinson taught the first Citizenship School class on Johns Island in January 1957. She helped develop the curriculum and later trained teachers with Septima Clark. In the workshop photo, Robinson is standing on the left and Clark on the right.0
  6. 6Paulo FreirePaulo FreireBorn Sep 19, 1921In Angicos, Brazil, adult literacy classes used words drawn from participants’ lives. The organizers documented the local vocabulary and trained people to lead discussions in culture circles. Their records show the planning involved in giving adults familiar subjects to read, write, and talk about.0
  7. 7Moses CoadyMoses CoadyBorn Jan 3, 1882In Nova Scotia, Coady helped organize local study clubs around problems that adults could tackle together. People used the clubs to learn how credit, cooperatives, and local markets worked. In Coady’s account, studying the problem gave communities a basis for deciding what to build.0
  8. 8James J. TompkinsJames J. TompkinsTompkins promoted a People’s School at St. Francis Xavier College and helped lay the groundwork for the Antigonish Movement. He pressed for adults in nearby communities to have a part in the educational life of the college. Study groups and later extension work gave people ways to do that outside…0
  9. 9Frances MansbridgeFrances MansbridgeFrances and Albert Mansbridge founded the organization that became the Workers’ Educational Association in 1903. The association traces the effort back to their work as Sunday school teachers and to money Frances put toward starting it. Frances is on the right in the photograph.0
  10. 10Jane AddamsJane AddamsBorn Sep 6, 1860Hull House offered college extension courses in its Chicago neighborhood. Its 1908 account describes a program that began before the city’s university extension movement. Addams helped make the settlement a place where adults could take part in organized study close to home.0