This article explores nuances of power and powerlessness in adult literacy, pedagogy in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. Drawing from interdisciplinary literature, this article places Bernice Violanthe Robinson’s adult, literacy reforms within the revolutionary framework of Highlander Folk, School in Monteagle, Tennessee, and shows how such reforms became a transformative force that helped give the vote to thousands of disenfranchised African Americans. The article examines Robinson’s remarkable service and leadership in the context of womanist theory to address the range of African American women’s lived experiences of the three interlocking systems that oppress them: race, class, and gender. Her work exemplified key principles of the womanist epistemology, emphasizing self-help, self-definition, and community mobilization within the African American community. The article also explores Robinson’s body of work in adult literacy, which resonates with later adult learning theories of political consciousness. Finally, by examining contemporary uses for Robinson’s work, I hope to show the importance of her unique contributions and draw her distinguished career away from the margins.
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