The 3Ts Movement, was a college student-led community outreach movement in Alabama's Black Belt from 1963 to 1968. This movement consisted of 3 separate programs at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) during the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement. In 1963 the 3Ts movement began with Tuskegee Institute students. Later in the summer of 1965 they were joined by white and black students from 30 different colleges and universities. This amplified the movement towards integration with programs supported by the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity and the Federal Student Work-Study Program.[1] [2]

Programs edit

The 3Ts Movement was comprised of three interlocking programs:

  • TICAC, the Tuskegee Institute Community Action Corps characterized by its volunteer stages and its camaraderie in the home tutoring and personal family services in Macon County, Alabama. [2]
  • TISEP, the Tuskegee Institute Summer Education Program, provided expanded services to fight illiteracy and promote education in twelve counties through a funded grant program. The program also produced a newspaper, "The T.I.S.E.P. Reporter", covering the program activities at it's various sites. [3] Video on YouTube
  • TICEP, the Tuskegee Institute Community Education Program replicated the summer program and also added social and health, advisory and referral services to the tutees and their families.[4]

The 3Ts Movement was created by Dr. P. Bertrand Phillips. Phillips was then the dean of students and a professor of education and psychology at Tuskegee Institute. Phillips was central in discovering the funding for programs and creating opportunities for other colleges and universities to join in the 3 Ts Movement.[5][2][6]

Participants of the 3Ts Movement were college students, elementary, junior high and high school students and adult members of the communities. Participants bonded to fight a war on poverty, unequal education and social economical and political inequality and marginalization. They made personal sacrifices and often risked their lives in this time of Black Codes and Jim Crow laws.[7][8]

The 3Ts Movement partnered with communities in thirteen Black Belt counties of Alabama. These counties were Barbour, Bullock, Coosa, Crenshaw, Elmore, Jefferson, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Pike, Russell, and Tallapoosa.[9][10]

References edit

  1. ^ Edgerton, John (November–December 1965). "Tuskegee Another Kind of Demonstration in the Black Belt". Southern Education Report.
  2. ^ a b c Phillips, Dr. P. B. (2021). "Looking Back Nearly 60 Years: The Tuskegee Institute Community Action Corp (TICAC)". Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men. 8 (2): 131. doi:10.2979/spectrum.8.2.06. S2CID 236708855.
  3. ^ Community Members of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. "T.I.S.E.P TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE SUMMER EDUCATION PROGRAM". Sammy Young Jr. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  4. ^ Pinnock, Theodore J. (October 23, 1967). "Report Resumes" (PDF). Education Opportunities Provided by Community Action Programs – via ERIC.
  5. ^ VanDerVeen, Kari (May 2, 2017). "St. Olaf to award honorary degree to educator, civil rights advocate".
  6. ^ Mendelsohn, Sue; Walker, Clarissa (2021). "Bert Phillips, Tuskegee Institute, 1964". Agents of Change: African American Contributions to Writing Centers – via Purdue.
  7. ^ Jones, Brian (2022). The Tuskegee Student Uprising…A History. NYU Press. ISBN 9781479809424.
  8. ^ United States. Office of Economic Opportunity. Summer Volunteer Service In the War On Poverty.  Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1966.
  9. ^ Long, Kendell (July 20, 2018). ""DEAN" BERTRAM PHILLIPS". Civil Rights Voices Speak.
  10. ^ Hoekstra, Joel (2015). "A Slaying in Selma" (PDF). St. Olaf Magazine.