Sue Thrasher Explained

Sue Thrasher
Birth Name:Martha Sue Thrasher
Alma Mater:University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Thesis Title:International women as popular educators : an inquiry into the nature and implications of everyday experience
Thesis Url:https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/
Thesis Year:1994

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.

Early life and education

Thrasher 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] 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

Thrasher 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] with early actions centered on an Easter weekend meeting in Nashville in 1964.[10] These actions led to the founding of the Southern Students Organizing Committee, and Thrasher served as its first executive secretary.[11] 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; she was the only woman who served as an officer in the organization. During her tenure, she organized and led the “white folks project” during the Mississippi summer[12] where Thrasher aimed to include more white people in the civil rights movement by actively recruiting white Americans. 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.[13]

Thrasher's work in the civils rights movement is also covered in J. Anthony Lukas's book, Don't shoot we are your children,[14] which was reviewed by Kurt Vonnegut in Life magazine.[15]

Later life

In 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.[16] [17] Thrasher retired from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2013.

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Woods, Barbara A. . Southern women at the millennium : a historical perspective . Columbia : University of Missouri Press . Missouri University Press . 2003 . 978-0-8262-1505-5 . 101–102 . Working in the shadows: Southern women and civil rights.
  2. News: O'Leary . Dillon . 1971-07-10 . Youth as nigger . 40 . The Ottawa Journal . 2022-03-19.
  3. News: Woods . Saralee Terry . 2000-12-31 . White women recall roles in civil rights movement . 59 . The Tennessean . 2022-03-19.
  4. News: 1991-03-24 . Campus Life: Massachusetts; University Helps Its Workers Take Their 'Next Steps' . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-03-19 . 0362-4331.
  5. Web site: Sue Thrasher (M.Ed. 1994; Ed.D. 1996) Center for International Education . 2022-03-19 . www.umass.edu.
  6. Sinsheimer . Joe . June 30, 1999 . Interview with Sue Thrasher, Civil Rights Movement Archive .
  7. Web site: Sue Thrasher oral history interview, 2017-06-05 . 2022-03-19 . digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu . en.
  8. Book: Evans, Sara M. (Sara Margaret) . Personal politics : the roots of women's liberation in the civil rights movement and the new left . 1979 . New York . Knopf . 978-0-394-41911-4 . 46.
  9. Book: Hidden histories of women in the New South . 1994 . Columbia . University of Missouri Press . 978-0-8262-0958-0 . 190.
  10. Book: The Southern Patriot 1966-01: Vol 24 Iss 1 . 1966 . Southern Conference Educational Fund . English.
  11. Book: Rebellion in Black and white : southern student activism in the 1960s . 2013 . Baltimore . The Johns Hopkins University Press . 978-1-4214-0849-1.
  12. News: 1964-09-15 . 125 attend discussion on civil rights . 5 . The Lexington Herald . 2022-03-19.
  13. Web site: 2021-03-12 . From the Archives: We needed to know more about the South . 2022-03-01 . Facing South . en.
  14. News: Carson . Catherine . 1971-07-16 . America's young rebels probed . 58 . Edmonton Journal . 2022-03-19.
  15. Book: Vonnegut, Kurt . Closed season on the kids . 1971-04-09 . Life Magazine, Time Inc . 14 . en.
  16. News: Jolly . Brad . 1981-01-16 . Highlander center story told by New Market worker . 5 . Johnson City Press . 2022-03-19.
  17. Web site: "I Want to Be Your Friend, You Black Idiot!!": The Dynamics of Majority Involvement in Minority Movements - SSA Centennial . 2022-03-19 . ssacentennial.uchicago.edu.