Sue Thrasher

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.

Sue Thrasher
Born
Martha Sue Thrasher
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst
ThesisInternational women as popular educators : an inquiry into the nature and implications of everyday experience (1994)

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][1] 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]: 163  with early actions centered on an Easter weekend meeting in Nashville in 1964.[10][11] These actions led to the founding of the Southern Students Organizing Committee, and Thrasher served as its first executive secretary.[8][12] 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;[10]: 36  she was the only woman who served as an officer in the organization.[9] During her tenure, she organized and led the “white folks project” during the Mississippi summer[13] where Thrasher aimed to include more white people in the civil rights movement by actively recruiting white Americans.[10] 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.[14][7]

Thrasher's work in the civils rights movement is also covered in J. Anthony Lukas's book, Don't shoot we are your children,[15] which was reviewed by Kurt Vonnegut in Life magazine.[16]

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.[17][18] Thrasher retired from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2013.[5]

References
  1. Woods, Barbara A. (2003). "Working in the shadows: Southern women and civil rights". Southern women at the millennium : a historical perspective. Missouri University Press. Columbia : University of Missouri Press. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-0-8262-1505-5.
  2. O'Leary, Dillon (1971-07-10). "Youth as nigger". The Ottawa Journal. p. 40. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  3. Woods, Saralee Terry (2000-12-31). "White women recall roles in civil rights movement". The Tennessean. p. 59. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  4. "Campus Life: Massachusetts; University Helps Its Workers Take Their 'Next Steps'". The New York Times. 1991-03-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  5. "Sue Thrasher (M.Ed. 1994; Ed.D. 1996) | Center for International Education". www.umass.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  6. Sinsheimer, Joe (June 30, 1999). "Interview with Sue Thrasher, Civil Rights Movement Archive" (Interview).
  7. "Sue Thrasher oral history interview, 2017-06-05". digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  8. Evans, Sara M. (Sara Margaret) (1979). Personal politics : the roots of women's liberation in the civil rights movement and the new left. Internet Archive. New York : Knopf : distributed by Random House. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-394-41911-4.
  9. Hidden histories of women in the New South. Internet Archive. Columbia : University of Missouri Press. 1994. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-8262-0958-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. Michel, Gregg L. (2004), "Building an Organization: The Founding of SSOC", Struggle for a Better South, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 33–62, doi:10.1057/9781403981813_3, ISBN 978-0-230-60256-4, retrieved 2022-03-19
  11. The Southern Patriot 1966-01: Vol 24 Iss 1. Internet Archive. Southern Conference Educational Fund. 1966.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. Rebellion in Black and white : southern student activism in the 1960s. Internet Archive. Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1-4214-0849-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. "125 attend discussion on civil rights". The Lexington Herald. 1964-09-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  14. "From the Archives: We needed to know more about the South". Facing South. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  15. Carson, Catherine (1971-07-16). "America's young rebels probed". Edmonton Journal. p. 58. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  16. Vonnegut, Kurt (1971-04-09). Closed season on the kids. Life Magazine, Time Inc. p. 14.
  17. Jolly, Brad (1981-01-16). "Highlander center story told by New Market worker". Johnson City Press. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
  18. ""I Want to Be Your Friend, You Black Idiot!!": The Dynamics of Majority Involvement in Minority Movements - SSA Centennial". ssacentennial.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-19.

Further reading
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