Don West - World Literary Awards

Profile

Gender: Male
Born: 1906-06-06 （Devil's Hollow, Gilmer County, Georgia, U.S.）
Died: 1992-09-29 （Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.） age 86
Nationality: United States
Languages: English
Religion: Christianity (Protestant; influenced by the Social Gospel)
Residence History: Monteagle, Tennessee, U.S. → Kennesaw, Georgia, U.S. → Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. → Pipestem, West Virginia, U.S. → Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.

Career

Occupations: writer, poet, educator, trade union organizer, civil-rights activist
Active Years: 1929-1992
Affiliations: Highlander Folk School (co-founder), Southern Folk School and Libraries (founder), Appalachian South Folklife Center (founding supporter), Oglethorpe University (faculty), Kentucky Workers Alliance (organizational director)
Influenced By: Myles Horton, Alva Taylor, Willard Uphaus, Social Gospel movement
Influenced: Hedy West (daughter, folksinger), Activists in Appalachian folk and labor movements

Education

Institution	Faculty	Department	Degree	Period	Country
Lincoln Memorial University	—	—	—	1920年代 - 1929	United States
Vanderbilt Divinity School	—	—	—	研究・研修（年不明）	United States

Lincoln Memorial University

Period: 1920年代 - 1929

Year of Graduation: 1929

Country: United States

Expelled during protests while a student but later returned and graduated

Vanderbilt Divinity School

Period: 研究・研修（年不明）

Country: United States

Studied under Alva Taylor and Willard Uphaus; influenced by the Social Gospel movement

Awards & Nominations

American Book Awards 1 appearances

Edition 26 (2005) Winner

Works

Major Works

Crab-Grass

1931 poetry

Early poetry collection addressing Southern workers and poverty.

laborthe American Southpoverty

Songs for Southern Workers: Songbook of the Kentucky Workers Alliance

1937 songbook / labor songs

Songbook for the Kentucky Workers Alliance collecting labor songs and poems.

labor movementsolidarityfolk culture

Clods of Southern Earth

1946 poetry (with drawings)

A widely read poetry collection from the 1940s depicting Southern land and workers' lives; sold tens of thousands of copies.

landlaborcommunity

No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems

2004 selected prose and poems

A later edited selection compiling West's prose and poetry.

memoirsocial justiceregional culture

Bibliography

Crab-Grass (1931)
Songs for Southern Workers: Songbook of the Kentucky Workers Alliance (1937)
Clods of Southern Earth (1946)
No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems (ed. Jeff Biggers & George Brosi, 2004)

Style & Themes

Literary Style: conversational, folk-influenced dictionsocially and politically engaged writing
Recurring Motifs: Southern workerspoverty and solidarityland and naturecommunity and song

Legacy

Don West was known as an advocate for Southern workers and the poor, contributing to educational movements and folk culture. His collection 'Clods of Southern Earth' reached a wide readership, and his role in founding the Highlander Folk School influenced grassroots activism.

Museums

Appalachian South Folklife Center Pipestem, Summers County, West Virginia, U.S. Opened in 1964

In Popular Culture

The character 'Tod North' in Clancy Sigal's novel 'Going Away' is considered to be at least partly modeled on West

Quotes

"I have never been a card carrying, dues paying member of the communist party... But I have worked closely with people whom I knew to be communist. And I would never red-bait."

Source: Interview with Don West, Southern Oral History Program (January 22, 1975) (1975)

Trivia

Led protests in high school including against the film 'The Birth of a Nation' and was expelled at one point.
Co-founded the Highlander Folk School with Myles Horton, later founded his own Southern Folk School and Libraries.
'Clods of Southern Earth' sold tens of thousands of copies in the 1940s.
Subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee but did not testify.
His daughter Hedy West became a well-known folksinger.
FBI files on Don West were released via FOIA and are available on the Internet Archive.