[Started by Esau Jenkins and Septima Clark on Johns Island SC in 1954, the Citizenship Schools focused on teaching adults to read so they could pass the voter-registration "literacy tests." Under the innocuous cover of adult-literacy classes, the schools clandestinely taught democracy and civil rights, community leadership and organizing, practical politics, and the strategies and tactics of resistance and struggle. Initially, the program operated under the auspices of the Highlander Center, but after Tennessee authorities attempted to shut down Highlander because of its support for integration and economic justice, SCLC agreed to take the Citizenship Schools under its wing so that if Highlander was destroyed the program would still survive. See Citizenship Schools for details and history.]
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