May Justus
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May Justus (May 12, 1898 – November 7, 1989) was an American author of numerous children's books, almost all of which were set in
Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
and reflect the traditional culture of her native
East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...
. She also worked as a teacher and served for many years as volunteer secretary-treasurer for the
Highlander Folk School The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West (e ...
.


Biography

May Justus was born in
Del Rio, Tennessee Del Rio is an unincorporated community in Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. Although it is not a census-designated place, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for the ZIP Code (37727) that serves Del Rio had a population of 2,138, according to th ...
, in 1898. She was one of the ten children of schoolteacher Stephen Justus and his wife Margaret Brooks Justus. Traditional
storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...
and major works of literature were both prominent elements in the Justus home, where family members had a regular practice of reading books aloud. At the
University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
in
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
she studied to become a teacher, graduating with a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
. Her first written work grew out of her experiences as a young teacher, as she began to write down the stories that she told to an eager audience of students after they had finished her classwork. Sometime before 1932, Justus worked as a teacher in a
mission school The Mission School (sometimes called "New Folk" or "Urban Rustic") is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District, San Francisco, California. History and characteristics This movement is generally considered to have ...
in a remote area of
Lee County, Kentucky Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,395. Its county seat is Beattyville. The county was formed in 1870 from parts of Breathitt, Estill, Owsley and Wolfe counties. The c ...
, together with Vera McCampbell, her long-time companion. When McCampbell's mother, who was living with them, developed cancer, the two women decided to move to a place where they would have better access to a hospital for medical care. Accordingly, they accepted an invitation from Lillian Johnson to join her in the rural community of Summerfield (near Monteagle) in
Grundy County, Tennessee Grundy County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in Middle Tennessee, bordering East Tennessee. As of 2021, the population was 13,622. Its county seat is Altamont. The county is named in honor of Felix Grundy. ...
, where Johnson had founded a progressive school called the Summerfield School. Justus and McCampbell became two of Summerfield's three teachers. In addition to offering a traditional curriculum to students up to grade 8, they taught arts and crafts, sold student-made handicrafts to help raise funds, and helped provide meals for students through a communal soup pot. In 1932,
Myles Horton ] Myles Falls Horton (July 9, 1905– January 19, 1990) was an American educator, socialist, and co-founder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement (Movement leader James Bevel called Horton "The Father o ...
and Don West (educator), Don West persuaded Lillian Johnson to let them try operating Summerfield after the model of a Danish folk school, thus allowing Johnson to retire. After a tentative start, the new arrangement became permanent, transforming the Summerfield School into the
Highlander Folk School The Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a social justice leadership training school and cultural center in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West (e ...
. Justus and McCampbell soon left the school and went to work as teachers at a nearby public school. However, West managed to recruit Justus to become a volunteer at Highlander, and she continued in that capacity until Highlander's forced closure and relocation (in 1961), serving for many years as Highlander's secretary-treasurer. Justus retired from full-time teaching in 1939 due to a heart ailment. Subsequently, she devoted more of her time to her writing. For many years after she stopped regular teaching, however, she provided special instruction to children with various special needs, conducted a program of stories and songs for children, and kept an attic library for children, all in the home she shared with McCampbell. Having lived her entire life in rural Appalachia, Justus had her first encounters with African Americans and became a committed supporter of racial equality through her work with the Highlander Folk School. She formed a particularly close connection with
Septima Clark Septima Poinsette Clark (May 3, 1898 – December 15, 1987) was an African American educator and civil rights activist. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and ...
, an African American woman who had lost her teaching job in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, because of her membership in the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, and who coordinated a Highlander program in South Carolina that taught African Americans to read. Like Justus, Clark was an avid reader, a
teetotaller Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...
, a teacher from the rural
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, and a member of a
fundamentalist Christian Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...
religious tradition, and the two became friends. Justus first confronted the reality of racial discrimination under
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
when the two women were together at the Andrew Jackson Hotel in Nashville and Clark was denied entry to a "white-only"
elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
. In 1959, Justus was called to testify in hearings conducted to investigate alleged subversive activities at the Highlander Folk School. This was part of the campaign by the state of Tennessee that led in 1961 to the state's revoking Highlander's charter and seizing its land and buildings in Monteagle. Asked about her views on
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
and
white people White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...
dancing together, she told the committee "I see nothing immoral about it. ... It's a square dance. I can look at television any time and see worse than that." When her interrogator followed up by asking "Don't you know it's against the law for whites and colored to marry in Tennessee?", she replied "Yes, sir, but I didn't know that a square dance was part of a marriage ceremony." He continued with a question about Highlander's charter: "It says here one of your purposes is to train rural and industrial leaders. Have you ever issued any diplomas to rural and industrial leaders that you know of?" Her reply, "I didn't know diplomas were required for rural and industrial leaders," ended her questioning. For her outspoken support of Highlander and its efforts to end racism, she was dismissed from membership in the local
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church where she had taught Sunday school, while Vera McCampbell was fired from her public school teaching job due to the women's association with Highlander. May Justus died in Tennessee on November 7, 1989. She was buried in Summerfield Cemetery in Grundy County.


Books

Justus wrote about 60 books published between 1927 and 1980, including children's fiction and some poetry. Justus' books for children typically combine traditional folklore with realistic fictional stories. Her characters speak in Appalachian dialect, practice traditional mountain folkways, and often are depicted singing traditional songs. Several of her books include recipes, reproduce the words and musical scores of the songs the characters sing, or provide descriptions of herbal remedies. Only two of Justus's books for children were set outside Appalachia: ''New Boy in School'' (1963) and ''A New Home for Billy'' (1966), both of which deal with
racial desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
. ''New Boy in School'' tells the story of an African American boy who moves to
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
from
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
and enters an integrated school in Nashville where his is the only brown face in his class. Justus was motivated to write the book by her reactions to her experience with Septima Clark and the whites-only elevator and to the 1957 bombing of Hattie Cotton School, one of five Nashville schools that had been announced to become the city's first integrated elementary schools.
Ferrum College , mottoeng = Not Self, But Others , established = , type = Private college , president = David L. Johns , city = Ferrum, Virginia , country = U.S. , c ...
professor Tina Hanlon has said that ''New Boy'' was "probably the first" book on desegregation to be written for young readers. Late in her life Justus said it was her favorite among her books. ''A New Home for Billy'' deals with residential desegregation, telling the story of an African American boy whose family encounters racial discrimination when trying to move to the suburbs from a crowded one-room tenement apartment, but ultimately succeeds in settling in an integrated neighborhood.


Bibliography

Among Justus' books are: *''Peter Pocket: A Little Boy of the Cumberland Mountains'', 1927. Illustrated by Mabel Pugh. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Page. Justus' first book, 127 pages in length, ''Peter Pocket'' was described as being about "a young boy's life in the Cumberland Mountains during the early part of this century." *''Gabby Gaffer'', 1929 *''At the Foot of Windy Low'', 1930. Illustrated by Carrie Dudley. New York: P. F. Volland. *''The Other Side of the Mountain'', 1931; reprinted in 1935 and 1957. *''Gabby Gaffer's New Shoes'', 1935 *''Honey Jane'', 1935; reprinted in 1946. Illustrated by Charles Smith. Garden City, NY: Junior Books/Doubleday, Doran. * ''Near-Side-and-Far'', 1936 *''Cabin on Kettle Creek'', 1941 *''Sammy'', 1946. Illustrated by Christine Chisholm. Includes the musical score for "There Was a Little Tree". *''Susie'', 1947. Illustrated by Christine Chisholm. Includes the musical score for "Lazy Lady". *''Luck for Little Lihu'', 1950. Illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman. New York: Aladdin Books. An account of some adventures in the life of a 10-year-old "backwoods boy". *''Children of the Great Smoky Mountains'', 1952. Illustrated by Robert Henneberger. New York: E. P. Dutton. A collection of 16 stories. *''Surprise for Peter Pocket'', 1955. Illustrated by Jean Tamburine. New York: Holt. *''Use Your Head, Hildy'', 1956. New York: Henry Holt. *''The Right House for Rowdy'', 1960. Illustrated by Jean Tamburine. New York: Holt, Rinehart. *''New Boy in School'', 1963. Illustrated by Joan Balfour Payne. New York: Hastings House. *''A New Home for Billy'', 1966. Illustrated by Joan Balfour Payne. New York: Hastings House. *''Eben and the Rattlesnake'', 1969. Illustrated by Carol Wilde. Champaign, IL: Garrard Publishing. *''My Lord and I'', 1980. Poems.


Recorded songs

Between 1953 and 1961,
Guy Carawan Guy Hughes Carawan Jr. (July 28, 1927 – May 2, 2015) was an American folk music, folk musician and musicology, musicologist. He served as music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tenn ...
made
field recording Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...
s of May Justus singing
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
s and
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
s she had learned in her childhood, including songs from Appalachia and songs that her grandmother had brought with her from England. The Tennessee Folklore Society and Jubilee Community Arts published Carawan's recordings in 2011 on a CD entitled ''May Justus, The Carawan Recordings''.


Awards and recognitions

Justus received the Julia Ellsworth Ford Prize in 1935 and 1936, for ''Gabby Gaffer's New Shoes'' and ''Near-Side-And-Far'', respectively. In 1950 she was the recipient of a
Boys Club of America Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young people. The organization, which holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, ...
Junior Book Award for ''Luck for Little Lihu''. The public library in
Monteagle, Tennessee Monteagle is a town in Franklin, Grundy, and Marion counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Cumberland Plateau region of the southeastern part of the state. The population was 1,238 at the 2000 census – 804 of the town's 1,238 resi ...
, is named for her.


References


External links

* Robin Bates
My Memories of a Mountain Writer
, October 17, 2011 * (mainly previous page of browse report, under 'Justus, May 1898–') {{DEFAULTSORT:Justus, May 1898 births 1989 deaths American children's writers Appalachian writers People from Cocke County, Tennessee People from Grundy County, Tennessee University of Tennessee alumni Writers from Tennessee American women children's writers Place of death missing 20th-century American women