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’ * Hi _LANDER REPORTS — JULY 195. SONGS FOR ZILPHIA ZILPHIA HORTON died in Apri? of 1956. She came to Highlander as a student in 1935, married and stayed on as a staff member for twenty-one years. Zilphia was born and freised in a small Arkansas coal-mining town, attended the College of the Or- arks and taught school for two years before coming to High- lander. Tributes to Zilphia’s Hfe on the mountain were paid ‘fm many ways by the people bere. Her friends and friends of Highlander wrote us from many parts of the country and other parts of the world. Some of these friends in Chicago met in May for a memorial program, “Sengs for Zilphia". Just as we cannot recarture Zitphia’s vitality and joy of living, so we cannot recreate with words the life of folk, labor and relizgious songs that were anne | that nNrht, mie here is an expression by John Thompson h and full heritage she has lft: " . . We are bere tonight to pay honor to Ziliphia Horton, whose untimely death we have mourned, but whose valnes and hopes and enthusiasms and faith wz cannot celebrate sadly. “For she was one of the mosi genuine, natural, unspoiled, af- firmative persons any of us has ever known, and for twenty- ene years she helped make Highlander human and joyful and songful and gay, and tous helped all the countless people High- lander touched to make the dark and dreary places throughout the South more human, more joyful, more songful and gay. “This is not a time to make a case or to plead for support which we are going to give a3 long as we truly believe in de- mocracy and its promises, as long as we believe in the feople and in thelr essential gocdness—as Myles and Zilphia Horton have always believed. “This la a thine for more mellow and more Joyful moods, when we may be excused for indulging in a few memories, in cele- brating a friendship and a partnership full of meaning and last- ing significance, which even death cannot destroy. te is 2 ‘time for gvod memorie:, for good hopes, and for good resolutlons. Highlander has always been committed to the strug- gle for justice and to the cxtension of democracy and educa- tion for all people. But from the first it has also been keenly a2 @hale santas BHCLE Ive intercsied in the éultural values, values which had an it 4c muuniains. We talked about this that first winter be- fore any of us had met Zilphla. But until she came onto the acene no one was equipped to do much sbont this. “Kermit Eby bas worried because the American labor movement does noi sirg as it ased to do, and some of our poets have wor- ned because modern workers do not sing at their work as farmers and sailors and weavers used to sing. “Yhroughoui the South and in many places beyond th the South, wnions and workers’ groups have been set to singing again bout the most! important things in life (their work, their loves, thelr jokes, their faith} by Zilphia, who took them new songs and old senes and geve them the courage to sing. And Myies has helped to give them something to sing about. vr “Ii is good to be s part, even a very small part, ef such a now ile movement and ef such an earthy, bealthy, wn-weary faith in democracy and its timeless resources. We must find creative and powerful ways to celebrate these values always: and 1 know ho better way than to strengthen Highlander and its program now. This is the only concelyable memorial to effer for Zilphis, and it serves the double joy of fulfilling the moods of thanksgiving and of dedication.” Pee ea a Ts LES Juv . Her music, her whole life, were a dedication to the people. —Frances Leber, New Jersey. . Zilphia was so wonderful, and her philosophy so well-founded that you will always have her in that sense, still making your life rare and worth while.—Branson O’Casey, London, England. . She will live in our hearts and minds as Jong as we live; that we with hear diet suiging hes songs, that lucuguc of ber will always raise the levels of performance we demand for ourselves, and that we shal] elways fee) it a special privilege to have known her.—Morris Lasker, New York. . All of our lives have been enriched from having, know- ing and being with her, catching a spark of her joyous spirit which became a part of our lives. — Howard Frazier, Burlin- game, California, . An achievement in finer human relations and in under- standing and love — and Zilphia had such a large part in it; such a spirit cannot be destroyed.—Stuart Chapin, Wiscasset, ’ Maine. . .. I think of Zilphia — so alive and full of energy. I am sure al! the little angels are singing and square dancing and organizing today.—Alice Mitchell, Atlanta, Georgia. This is a bitter loss for you and the school; but it is a marvelous thing that you have built together. Rarely have two pecple worked so constructively, so persistently and with such imagination as you and she to illuminate the lives and thinking of others. Zilphia’s work and spirit will always be part of Highlander and of everyone whom the school has touched, = Margaret Famont, New York. x -) ; She lived so “funy ‘and “so Felptully” that it is wut aiffiadt to believe that she is working on, only through the influence of the many lives and causes she has benefitted. She is surely doing that, and her devotion to democracy and personality will Imein teh he an in thyen who kre her end were eontinue VW Fe gui inspiration to wivec Who aDewW ET 2nd 4 touched by her life-—Ted Shultz, Norris, Tennessee. . . Hers is the most beautiful and meaningful immortality I can conceive of. With the beauty and truthfulness of her life, with her warmth and great gifts, she has left an unforgettable enriching experience with all who walked with her — and there must be thousands! She has given people direction for growth and greater love and understanding than they had before meet- ing her.—Lena Kaplan, Chicago, Mlinois. I wish to express my deep sympathy for you at the passing of Zilphia . . . a great loss to you and the labor movement. Her spirit and love for the common peoples shall Hive on in “the hearts of all cf us who knew her and loved her—Bill Mar- lowe, Peoria, Illinois.