Cari Wade Gervin

She/her. TN politics + more. Freelance jack of all trades. DM for Signal et al. GO DAWGS 🐶

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

🚨HIGHLANDER IS GETTING ITS ORIGINAL LAND IN GRUNDY BACK🚨 (well 8.5 acres of it): https://t.co/BvHUoJvuNc

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

@ACShilton WOOOOOOOO!!!! Congrats! I am soooooo happy for y'all!!!!!

[Alabama Reflector bsky: @alreflector.bsky.com @ALReflector]

Via @TNLookout: Tennessee confiscated land from the civil rights training center in 1961. A proposed sale of some of it to a for-profit entity has infuriated Highlander leaders, whose offer to buy it was rejected. https://t.co/FdCnaW9R4O

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

🧵ICYMI: I wrote a long article about the fight over the ownership of (what's left of) the original Highlander Folk School site up on Monteagle Mountain for @TNLookout. https://t.co/ZbR6c5l2eP

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

The extant @HighlanderCtr folks, now

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

And if you have more information about this that I don't know, or have a tip on another juicy story I can dig into, DMs are always open!

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

I also had so much information left over that I wrote a mini-essay about historic preservation to go with reporting outtakes that raise even more questions about TPT. https://t.co/IMJ5MjqV9L

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

🧵ICYMI: I wrote a long article about the fight over the ownership of (what's left of) the original Highlander Folk School site up on Monteagle Mountain for @TNLookout. https://t.co/ZbR6c5l2eP

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

Anyway, I spent A LOT of time reporting this and talking to a lot of sources and calling even more people who wouldn't talk. It's a juicy story that raises a lot of questions about the future of the land. Please read it! https://t.co/ZbR6c5l2eP

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

It's also a story about non-profit compliance, and how easy it is to escape oversight. What happens if you never file 990s? 🤷

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

But the real story isn't just a fight between two non-profits — it's a fight over the difference between historic preservation and activism. Between polite white liberalism and activism that fights to change things.

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

Over the past decade the relationship between the two groups fell apart. TPT decided last winter to sell the lots — without telling Highlander. When they found out this spring, they offered $200k more, in cash. TPT still said no.

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

Highlander didn't have the funds to contribute to the purchases at the time, but they stayed in semi-communication with TPT about maybe one day getting the land back.

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

In 2013, the Nashville-based historic preservation group, Tennessee Preservation Trust (TPT) announced they were going to raise money and buy up a lot of the original sites to save the buildings that were left, including the historic library, where MLK famously spoke.

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

In the 60s, the state confiscated @HighlanderCtr's 200 acres of land on false charges and sold off parcels. Highlander moved to East TN and continued fighting the fight.

[Tennessee Lookout || tnlookout.bsky.social @TNLookout]

Accusations of bad faith dealing, sweetheart deals and the role race plays in historic preservation: @carigervin goes deep to profile a dispute over the property formerly home to the civil rights training center, the Highlander Folk School.

https://t.co/JYctWbCYIL

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

@learothawms Here's the link. https://t.co/IMJ5MjqV9L

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

Really appreciate all the thoughtful comments Dr. Williams made during our interview.

[Cari Wade Gervin @carigervin]

As promised, reporting outtakes and more thoughts about historic preservation: https://t.co/IMJ5MjqV9L