1974 Text Book War:  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Karl C. Priest, M.A.-  June 3, 2009
Columnist EducationNews.org

For 35 years, nearly everything written about the Kanawha County (WV) Textbook Controversy (which launched the cultural wars) has been slanted to portray the protesters as violent religious fanatics. This is Part III of three articles that portrays the protesters in the positive way they deserve.

1974 Text book War: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - (Part I): “The Bad” (A Protester Perspective)

(Part II): “The Ugly” (Told by a Teacher)

(Part III):  “The Good” (Proud Patriots)

PREACHERS

During the protest secret radical groups were formed to oppose the books.  Relationships were often negotiated with street elements, which sometimes conducted violent actions--often without the protesters' approval. A streak of conservatism remained a hallmark of the protesters.

Not all textbook demonstrations remained peaceful. One building was pulled down and the resulting jumble of wood was used for a great bonfire.   The protesters also organized demonstrations, enforced boycotts, and occasionally resorted to violence to advance their agenda.

Shocked?  Would you want to have tea with people like that?  If not, then you would miss the company of Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and other early American patriots (protesters).  The first two paragraphs were my paraphrase (and plagiarism) from “The Sons of Liberty” at U. S. History dot com.

The purpose is to demonstrate that the Kanawha County book protesters were in good historical company.

According to Harry Stout, Professor at Yale University, “Angry colonists were rallied to declare independence and take up arms because of what they heard from the pulpit.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather, William Emerson, preached to a group of colonial men from 2 Chronicles 13:12: "And behold, God himself is with us for our captain…”  Emerson said that the colonists must be skilled with weapons and have moral and spiritual determination.  Thank God for preachers like Emerson!  I expect that levobortomites (See Part II.) thank their gods that Emerson was not a Textbook War leader.

The Textbook War was about religion (even though there were academic and philosophical issues)--our religion AND their religion. 

There cannot be any compromise between the two diametrically opposed belief systems.   There were several liberal clergy that were pro-bookers.  The most prominent (and quoted ad infinitum) pro-book clergyman was James Lewis, an Episcopalian, who arrived in Charleston a few weeks before the protest broke out. Lewis is still a darling of the national and local media who always seek liberal, compromising, self-righteous clergy to promote their religious bias.  He tried to stifle the public’s right to know by attempting to persuade the Board of Education not to hold meetings in a large venue because, “The democratic process isn’t being served.”  Later, Lewis was at the forefront of several anti-war (i.e. anti-America) protests in the Kanawha Valley area.  Lewis received a funding fellowship to write a book about his version of the protest.   I wonder why some of those mysterious outside agitators who supposedly funded the protest never provided funds for a book by one of the protest preacher leaders.  Perhaps it is because there was no such funding.

Lewis made many snide comments that insulted the protesters such as the protesters were “confused and angry about everything” and were “fearful of the fire of hell”.  He scorned the protester belief in only one way of salvation.  Lewis did get something right when he called the protest “a religious war”.  It was his religion versus that of the protesters.

Before the June 27 Board meeting (The 1974 version of the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”.) 27 ministers had publically condemned the books.  The protest had five diverse (personality and denomination) ministers to take the helm as leaders.  Four of them were working men (one with a white-collar) who also pastored a church.   These five stron-willed men often did not see eye-to-eye on protest strategy.  In fact, they never all sat down together and held a harmonious strategy meeting.  The preacher-leaders were Ezra Graley (also a roofing contractor), Avis Hill (also a plumber), Marvin Horan (also a truck driver), Henry Thaxton (also an accountant), and Charles Quigley (the only full time minister).

Each of these men suffered financial loss—some of them substantially.  Also, they endured snide remarks and mocking of their beliefs that has continued to this day.  Each was arrested and stayed in police custody from hours to years.  The systematic slandering of those fine men will now be confronted with the truth.

All five would be the first to admit that Christians are not sinless or even ego free. Operatives from the opposition worked to cause division among them.  The preachers were putting in 20 (or more) hours a day. From shepherding a small flock of folks in their individual churches they suddenly became leaders in a battle for the hearts and minds of America’s children.  They were under tremendous pressure as well as danger from physical harm from powerful players in the elite.  Their lives were threatened and they had to face the leverage of governmental and political entities that was brought to bear upon them.  To compound matters they became the focus of extensive national and substantial international attention. 

Like his biblical namesake, Ezra Graley led hundreds of children out of the public school Babylon.  Pastor Graley knew that the schools had children six to seven hours daily and, in that length of time, could do irreparable harm.  Ahead of his time, Graley called for allowing parents to use vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice.  Pastor Graley was arrested early in the protest for violation of a picketing limitation court injunction.

Charles Quigley had a degree in theology (with a minor in psychology) and had started the groundwork for a Christian School, at his church, before the protest began.  He made a couple of statements, during the protest, that stand out.  First of all, he said he had more respect for the two Board members that had consistently supported the books than he did for the waffling (my word) Doug Stump.  During the peak of the protest Quigley made headlines by praying for God to strike the pro-book board members dead.  He tried to explain that he was using the analogy that the lives of children were more valuable than those adults and that he was warning them, based upon biblical history, of what could happen.  Also, he pointed out that when Christians pray “Come quickly, Lord Jesus” we are actually calling for multitudes to die in those end time events.  The violence promoted in the textbooks notwithstanding, the levobortomites sure took Pastor Quigley literally. 

A national television talk show tried to ambush Avis Hill by inviting him to debate James Lewis.  At the last minute, the producers included atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair in the mix.  Amusingly, Lewis was forced to align with the atheist.  In an effort to muster political support for the protesters, Hill drove all night to D. C., napped in his vehicle, shaved in a service station restroom, and then visited with West Virginia’s elected officials.  Pastor Hill also spent time in jail for non-violent protest activist.  Avis Hill went on to run an excellent ministry (still operating in 2009) for the homeless in Florida. (See Part I for more about Avis Hill.)

Marvin Horan spent two years and 11 days in prison for his alleged conspiracy to bomb an empty school building.  I attended a 3000 person rally in late September where Horan proposed giving the school board a 30 day grace period to do the right thing.  A November 21 photo shows Horan at protester headquarters sitting in front of a bookcase containing the controversial books.  Only a peace maker would have done that. The reporter referred to Horan’s “usual warm and friendly” demeanor.    His girls (They reminded me of Mary and Laura Ingles of Little House on the Prairie.) both were in Fair Haven Christian School which I helped build, literally from the ground up (http://insectman.us/testimony/christian-school.htm).  The oldest one (a real sweet heart) was in my class.   Elmer Fike (See below.) believes Horan was railroaded.  At worse, according to Fike, Horan may have said something in the heat of the moment that connected him to instigating the bombings.  Fike’s lawyer said that Horan’s legal counsel was not very good.  After his release from the prison system, Pastor Horan offered to take a lie-detector test if the judge and pro-book Board members would also.  He believes that he was marked by the powers-that-be to break the protest momentum.  His theory is that at least one of the bombings was done by those who wanted to discredit the protesters.  In 1979, Horan said, “It is better to keep one’s children home than to submit them to that evil (the public schools)”   Pastor Horan called for establishing a separate school system. 

Henry Thaxton was a preacher-leader was who had a secular four-year college degree and was an accountant at Union Carbide.  Mr. Thaxton was a member of the Kanawha County Council of the PTA. It was Thaxton who encouraged getting input from folks outside the state who had already gained experience with what the protesters faced.  Interestingly, some of his best help came from non-West Virginian Catholics.  He formed a group (Christian American Parents) to facilitate that goal and as a group that would always be respectful and act in a dignified manner.  Pastor Thaxton established a local Christian school and focused on encouraging churches to start Christian schools.  

PROTESTERS

The folks who formed the grassroots textbook protest were not wild-eyed ignoramuses and some were as educated as the snobs who mocked them.  The protesters were good people—the kind of folks most people would want to have as neighbors.  The overwhelming majority of them were peaceful and their actions were honorable. See the pictures at http://www.insectman.us/testimony/text-book-war.htm for pictures of protesters. I’d rather have a single patriotic protester as a friend than any ten from the cocktail crowd that opposed them.  Unfortunately, the miniscule minority who were violence prone are the ones who receive nearly all of the attention.  There was violence (shootings and car bombs) directed toward the protesters.  You could probably count, using only your thumbs, the times that violence has been reported. 

The majority of protesters consisted of a wide array of fundamentalist Christians.  There were various Baptist groups, Independent, Advent, Church of God, Evangelical Free, Nazarene, Church of Christ, Wesleyan, Church of God Mission, various Pentecostal denominations, as well as conservative Methodist and Presbyterian congregations.  There were some local devout Catholics too.

Other, not specifically Christian, groups against the books were the Executive Committee of the Kanawha Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Council. The Upper Kanawha Valley Mayors Association, and a theistic (“not been born again”) group called the Non-Christian American Parents.   Besides the two groups covered in Part I, there were opportunist radical groups which saw an opportunity to push their agenda and got involved  (after the protest was well under way), to different degrees, in opposition to the books for insincere reasons.   One, which was insignificant, was a socialist group.  They complained that there was not enough communism taught.  I have found no liberal attempts to slur the protesters with that group, so the socialist’s part in the controversy does not warrant any further discussion.

The protesters were also unique in a way in which many non-fundamentalists are unaware.  Fundamentalist Christians share common ground, but fundamentalist churches all have unique doctrines that keep them separate.  For example, there are differences among Baptists.  Then you have various Pentecostals, Churches of Christ, Churches of God, and miscellaneous Independents.  There are differences between denominations and even within groups using the same denominational tag.  Their differences are minor, but enough that the churches don't usually have picnics together.  In 1974 they all came together in unity.  To a firm fundamentalist like me--that was a miracle.  (For a brief explanation of fundamentalism see “FIRMly FUNdamentalist” http://insectman.us/misc/fundamentals.htm).   I liken the protesters to the branches of the U. S. military.  Soldiers, sailors, and marines are obviously different, usually work separately, and would engage in friendly arguments over which branch was the best--but they are united in their essential elements.

A strong segment of the protester population was the mothers.  They were vital in picketing, organizing, and many other valuable activities.  Many of them were jailed for picket activities.  When the Board superintendent threatened truancy arrests, nearly 200 mothers stood outside the court house holding signs such as “My kids Are Out” and “My Kids are not in School” and dared the sheriff to arrest them.  An entire article could be devoted to those wonderful moms.

These articles also woefully neglect to mention the roll of coal miners and other working people who sacrificed their time and income to participate in the protest.  Many of them manned picket lines through out the night.  Again, an entire (lengthy) article could be developed on the subject of striking workers and the vital part they played in the Textbook War.

Many of the protesters made sacrifices to protect their children.  One family canceled their newspaper and was willing to cancel their phone service in order to pay tuition for their children in a Christian school.  I can think of no better family to exemplify the protesters than the McGraws.   During the protest, social workers were sent to homes to investigate parents who were withholding their children from school.  The school superintendent threatened parents with truancy warrants.  The McGraws twice endured prosecution for truancy.  Fay McGraw, and her husband, had very low incomes yet they sacrificed to keep their children in Christian schools. 

In addition to the teachers (See Part II.) who took a public stand against the books, there were other educated protesters.

A non-preacher leader of the protesters was the late Elmer Fike who owned a local chemical company.  Mr. Fike had the education and position in society to set him apart from the average protester.  He believed in evolution (Although I think he was confused about the term.) and sprinkled his conversation with “hells”.   He formed the Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks of which I chaired the Teacher Chapter (http://insectman.us/testimony/teacher-chapter.htm).   Fike’s group sought “to provide a forum for the moderate sector of the community that is distressed over current educational trends and would like to take constructive action to correct these trends”.

Elmer Fike was often interviewed which was the exception to the media rule of seeking out the poor or preachers.   Fike supported the mission of the Heritage Foundation, but maintained that the Foundation did not put any money into the protest.  His objection to the books was primarily that the free-enterprise system was attacked.  By Fike’s thinking, vouchers were not the solution because the government would still control the money.  He promoted property tax-credits to assist parents in breaking free from public school.

There were many other educated people who were closet protesters such as a highly placed Ph. D. in the state Department of Education.

During preparation for my grievance hearing I received clandestine legal assistance from an elderly retired attorney (ex-judge) who was a liberal evolutionist.  He had some doubts about evolution and was a fair-minded man who felt that I deserved legal counsel. He would not allow me to call him at home due to concern that his wife would discover what he was doing.  He told me that he, and his out of state brother, felt the textbook protesters had good points and were poorly treated by the elite intelligentsia.

In 1975 a Marshall University professor of sociology and anthropology spoke to a group of educators at a pro-book group meeting.  He insincerely described the protesters as “the best people on God’s green earth, bar none”.  Then he condescendingly analyzed them in typical stereotypical fashion as unable to understand fables because “animals talk in fables and they know that animals don’t talk.”  He also said protesters believed it was not courteous to look in the eye of anyone on a higher social scale.  What a crock!  If I had been there I would have looked him in the eye and told him what he was full of.

Other Main Stream Media cohorts (academic researchers, liberal clergy, and left-wing organizations) have also contributed a biased view of that historical event and the protesters that participated in it. 

As expected from liberals who control the “free” press, the reporting of the Textbook War has always been (as it was in 1974) obviously slanted against the protesters.  A typical "history" of the Textbook War takes facts that only focus on the violence and other "extreme" events and ignores the overwhelming opposing occurrences.  Media coverage of the protest often featured quotes from hot-head foul mouthed protesters.   It would not have been difficult to find plenty of soft-spoken articulate folks on the protest lines. 

The editor of the Charleston Gazette, James Haught, is a nationally known atheist.  In fact he is an Internet “Celebrity Atheist”.  He was a reporter in 1974.  To this day he tries to trounce the protesters and a prime example is his 1993 Gazette article and his 1997 nearly verbatim remarks to an atheist organization in Florida.  He referred to Alice Moore (The Board member who exposed the books to the public.) as “the Board’s ayatollah”.  He called the protesters “mobs” and “zealots” (fanatics).  He said the protest was a “nightmare” and “a season of madness” with constant “screams and danger” and a “frenzy over nothing” because there was nothing wrong with the books.  Could anyone be anything except skeptical about fair news coverage from Haught and his newspaper cronies?

The protesters were ridiculed for not being able to understand satire and other figurative language.  I have a photo of a protester holding a sign that said, “What happened to Mary had a Little Lamb?  Now its Mary had a Little Shiv.”  She is next to another protester with drawings of monkey heads under the “hear, see, and speak no evil” labels.  Other signs read, “Today’s Education is not a Journey, but a Bad Trip”, “More Pearl S. Buck, Less Eldridge Cleaver”, and “Even Hillbillies Have Constitutional Rights”.  I wish I had a collection of all of the wit displayed on protester signs.

The national media have carried many stories critical of the textbook protest movement in Kanawha County, WV.  The Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks noted that the stories were “filled with half truths and innuendos” and the group tried to respond to a few of the many “glaring inconsistencies and omissions”  with a two full page newspaper ad.

An objective report would not focus on the minute minority who have been the fodder for liberal reporters.

One criticism of protesters was that they did not actually read the books.  How many of the pro-bookers read the Bible which they frequently criticized?  The fact was that few teachers actually read the books.  The non-selection committee population of teachers did not have an advantage over the general population in seeing the books during the summer.  Upon return to their buildings they would have been too busy to read the books.  The people who insisted that the County adopt the books were confident that they could slide the books in without any fuss.

There is evidence that there was some unethical maneuvering involved in selecting the books and, as is often the case, the adage “follow the money” is likely a factor in the book selection.   Who knows how much money changed hands in the process of selling those books?

There were 325 books selected at a cost of about $500.000 (half a million dollars).  That is not chump change even today.  It brings to mind the adage, “Follow the money.”

The book selection process began in the fall of 1973. There were three teacher sub-committees (elementary, junior high, and senior high) that made a recommendation to the Textbook Selection Committee which made the final choice to present to the Board of Education for its customary rubber stamp approval. The Textbook Selection Committee made its recommendation in the spring of 1974.

A 1978 Political Science research paper by David C. Delong revealed some eye-opening information.

“Investigation of the selection process reveals however that the elementary sub-committee did not recommend their (the books) adoption and and that the senior high sub-committee expressed concern over their selection. It also appears that the TSC had ‘doubts’ about some of the books in the series, but was pressured by Dr. J. Warner, Associate Superintendent in the Kanawha County Schools, to select the textbooks and request Board approval.” (p. 2)

“The reference to the internal proceedings of the Textbook Selection Committee (see pg. 2) was provided by a teacher in the Kanawha County School System who served on that Committee, who is teaching in Kanawha County at the present time, and who wishes to remain anonymous.” (p. 15)

Initially, the protesters set out to address their grievances through peaceful and legal means and the mainline protesters continued that for the duration of 1974-1975.  Those who resorted to violence, vandalism, or harsh taunting were the ones who did not follow the Bible literally.  They saw their friends and family ridiculed by the high-brows and saw their loved ones shunned by the system with which the protesters had tirelessly tried to work. 

These three articles are not meant to be a chronological history of the protest.  The addenda will have more details.

The protesters tried to get the attention of the Board of Education by various means.  They had the county school superintendent and two Board members arrested for contributing to the delinquency of minors.  One family sought help from Federal Court through a Constitutional (First Amendment) claim that the books violated their freedom of religion.  They lost, but the judge commented “that materials in some of the controversial textbooks and supplementary materials are offensive”.

Copies of the books were placed, by protesters, in key locations throughout the valley enabling the general public to see the books for themselves.

Around 8000 people attended a rally and heard protest leaders speak in early September.

At least 12,000 people signed a petition supporting those values and asking the Board of Education not to purchase the offensive books.  Even the Executive Committee of the county Council of Parents and Teachers objected to many of the books. 

Around 2000 people attended the June 27 three hour Board of Education meeting where the books were voted “in” by a 3-2 vote.  The auditorium and hallway were packed.  Most of the folks held umbrellas and stood outside of the open first floor windows in a heavy downpour.  One would think the Board of Education would have realized that the taxpayers and parents of the systems’ students were bothered about the books!  The protesters naively thought the Board would be responsive to the thoughts of thousands of its constituents.  The eight most objectionable were rejected and the Board made much ado about that.  The Board of Education thumbed their noses at the citizens who had elected them.  It is understandable that the people were angry.

Fifty thousand (50,000) flyers containing information about the books were distributed.

There were two large protest marches.  On October 29 about 4000 protesters marched about three miles from downtown Charleston to the capitol building.  The Charleston Gazette reported on the march and stated that the marches stretched for several city blocks.  There was joyous singing of Christian choruses.  I walked in that march.  As a propaganda device the reporter wrote that we had been asked to march 3-4 abreast and spread out.  I don’t remember that.  I remember a Gazette reporter walking with me for a short distance while she interviewed me.  I have not found any record of her using anything I said—after all, I was a college educated teacher and did not fit her narrow-minded concept of a fundamentalist fanatic.

In late October the White House weighed in.  The special assistant to President Gerald Ford said he sympathized with the parents and “there’s reason to believe there’s something to what they say”.  He had reviewed some of the books and was “surprised to say the least.”  (See the Addenda for sample selections.)

Some of the protesters traveled to Washington, DC and met with the U. S. Department of Education.  Referring to what was happening in Kanawha County, the United States Commissioner of Education, Terrell Bell, said (12-2-1974), “Parents have a right to expect their schools, in their teaching approaches and selection of instructional materials, will support the values and standards that their children are taught at home.  And if the schools cannot support these values they must at least avoid deliberate destruction of them.”

In March of 1975 the news reported that 65.6% of Kanawha County parents had used the county provided “opt out” to forbid their children from using the textbooks.  Alice Moore stated that the true figure was closer to 80%.

The School Board member Mrs. Alice Moore, who was the “hub” of the protest, was re-elected, in 1976, by a huge majority and retained her seat until she moved out of state.   She won every county district—urban, rural, and suburban.  

It should be noted that one of the Board members, who favored the books from the first, accurately said that Mrs. Moore was “Very bright.”   Her enemies dubbed her with a sarcastic title of “Sweet Alice”.  Actually, the title was appropriate.  Alice Moore is a kind, soft-spoken, ladies’ lady.  Her children at the time ranged in age from 7-15 and her fifth child was born in December, 1975.  She is a roll model for women both as a mother and an independently thinking public figure.  Mrs. Moore was a pioneer in promoting a free enterprise system of schools.

The protesters made polite and articulate requests for what they wanted in their schools’ textbooks.  Never did they attempt to force fundamentalist religious dogma into the school system.

The Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks issued the following statement:

We believe that the legitimate purpose of education is to promote the widely accepted Seven Cardinal Principles—command of fundamental processes (the three R’s), health, worthy home membership, vocational preparation, civic education, leisure time activities, and ethical character.  We believe that many of the controversial texts fail to promote these principles.  Rather, they tend to undermine the ethical character and social values of home and community accepted by a large majority of the people.

We believe that the continued use of these controversial books will result in antisocial behavior, further deterioration of social standards, increase in crime, and delinquency.

We believe that these books do not promote, in fact, are an attack on, the American system that has made this country the envy of the world.

While we abhor violence and shun demonstrations, we believe that the affect of these books is of sufficient consequence to warrant the use of any and all available legal means to have them removed.

We, therefore, urge our county Boards of Education, State Board of Education and the State Legislature to establish guidelines permitting only textbooks which promote the Seven Cardinal Principles and textbooks which contain no material offensive to any substantial cultural or ethnic group.

Before there was any hint of a protest the Board of Education had removed its token parent advisory component from the textbook selection process.  When the protest made it obvious the Board was ignoring the citizens, an effort was made to save face and a Textbook Review Committee (See Part II) was formed.   The splinter (protester) group of the Textbook Review Committee approved 71 of the books.  In a voluminous report this group quoted from William McGuffey:  “If you can induce a community to doubt the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures; to question the reality and obligations of religion; to hesitate, undeciding, whether there be any such thing as virtue or vice; whether there be an eternal state of retribution beyond the grave; or whether there exists any such being as God, you have broken down the barriers of moral virtue and hoisted the flood gates of immorality and crime. I need not say that when people have once done this, they can no longer exist as a tranquil and happy people. Every bond that holds society together would be ruptured; fraud and treachery would take the place of confidence between man and maw the tribunals would be scenes of bribery and injustice; avarice, perjury, ambition, and revenge would walk through the land and render it more like the dwelling of savage beasts, than the tranquil abode of civilized and Christianized men.”

Then the group politely implored the Board:  “We do not ask that you concur in our objections as we fully realize that diversity of opinion does exist.  We only ask that you honor our right to hold our opinions and protect our children from that which we feel would do them harm.”

Early in the protest the Board was presented with a petition that clearly conveyed the hearts and minds of the protesters.  They asked for educational materials that did not:

1.  Demean, encourage skepticism, or foster disbelief in the institutions of the United States of America and in Western civilization.  We submit that among these institutions are the following:

>The family unit emerges from the marriage of man and woman;

>Belief in a Supernatural Being, or a power beyond ourselves, or a power beyond our comprehension;

>The political system set forth in the Constitution of the United States of America;

>The economic system commonly referred to as free enterprise where the exchange of goods and services is governed by the forces of supply and demand rather than a central governmental authority;

>Respect for the laws of the Nation, the State, and its subdivisions and for the judicial system which administers those laws;

>The history and heritage of this nation as the record of one of the noblest civilizations that has existed;

>Respect for the property of others.

2.  Advocate, suggest, or imply that traditional rules governing the grammar and vocabulary of the English language are not a proper and worthwhile subject for academic pursuit and do not, in fact, constitute the means by which well-educated people communicate most effectively.

3.  Deal with religion in any manner-its beliefs, rituals or literature. Inasmuch as it has been held unconstitutional for a tax-supported school to promote religious belief, we hold that it is equally unconstitutional to promote religious disbelief. Further, since the denial of supernatural forces is in itself a form of religion, the promotion of agnosticism or nihilism must also be unconstitutional.

The NEA panel (See Part II.) reported that the protesters made it clear that the protesters also objected to the lack of emphasis on “fundamentals of grammar, reading, and mathematics” along with the “general permissiveness of the schools”.  In that regard, the protesters were prophetic as public school academics nose-dived to a place where we find ourselves today.  (For details read my articles http://insectman.us/exodus-mandate-wv/articles.htm.)

Only people with an extreme (levobortomite) agenda could have objected to what the protesters requested.

PRECEDENCE

Some believe the Kanawha County Textbook War launched the conservative movement that brought conservative professing politicians into power nationwide.  Ronald Reagan rode in proclaiming the same premises as the protesters.  For me, the protest had to do with issues far more important than politics.

Unfortunately, the protesters were conned and by 1977 most of their noble efforts had been nullified by a system that was built upon a humanistic (i. e. atheistic) foundation.  Ray Moore (Exodus Mandate director http://www.exodusmandate.org/correctly said “The Kanawha Valley battle was a kind of first salvo for an exodus (from the public schools), but it never caught on and was sort of still born due to lack of clear vision and a resolute K-12 Christian education theology agenda. The people were conflicted between public school reform, or whether to support K-12 Christian education.”  

The textbook war is not over!

I think that the Textbook War was the first call for Christians to rescue their children and that now Exodus Mandate is sounding what appears to be the last call.  (Please see the Exodus Mandate-WV page. http://insectman.us/exodus-mandate-wv/index.htm) 

The 1974 textbooks were the spearhead for lower academic standards and much more detrimental public school problems.  Illegal drug use, student pregnancies (and abortions), evolutionism, anti-Americanism, and the homosexual agenda (http://www.insectman.us/exodus-mandate-wv/they-roar.htm) swept into Kanawha County Schools. 

In 1978, Charleston Daily Mail columnist Rex Woodford wrote, “Well, I stood with them (Kanawha County book protesters) one evening and felt that I was taking my life in my own hands to do it (they didn’t cotton to outsiders), but I learned that they weren’t so dumb after all. They got me to think and to read some of the books in question, books that I’m convinced many of them knew little of except for choice, damaging passages. Nevertheless, they had some good points indeed.”  Woolford, obviously sneering at the 1974 protesters, was bemoaning how bad some books were in 1978.

The protesters were not out to burn or even ban books. They only sought to exercise their right, as a sizable majority of citizens, to control what their children were exposed to by the public schools.  History has proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the PROTETERS WERE RIGHT!  Proof fills the headlines of West Virginia news (http://insectman.us/exodus-mandate-wv/wv-news.htm) from 1975 forward.  The folks, who protested for righteousness and America in 1974 have been vindicated and ultimately will be victorious if America survives.  The protesters, and their offspring, should hold their heads high.

I like to claim that my experiences in the early 2000’s, of trying to get scientific facts taught in the public schools (See my testimony http://insectman.us/testimony/testimony.htm.), have proven--beyond the shadow of a doubt--that the public schools cannot be changed.  Coupling that with my observations of the dumbing down movement of public education confirms that classroom teachers are encumbered so heavily that there is no hope to improve the pitiful academic situation in public schools. Even worse, the public schools are controlled by the ACLU, teacher unions, and other left-wing extremists (levobortomites) who make the public schools detrimental, even dangerous, to all children--especially Christian children.  Actually, the textbook protesters proved all of this in 1974.

During the 1974 protest, a local television station allowed Alice Moore to read from one of the books only after broadcasting a statement that the “subject matter might be inappropriate for children.

A prime example of why I say that the public schools cannot be redeemed is that in 2000, during the “Pandas” battle (http://insectman.us/testimony/pandas.htm), I went to a Board meeting to request the Board to adopt a supplementary science book. I was the first speaker and urged the BOE not to censor the book Of Pandas and People from use by teachers. Shortly after I concluded my remarks, a very professional looking and well-spoken parent addressed the Board. (I had received email from this fellow, but had never met him and had not planned any strategy with him.) He began to read from a book which had been assigned to his daughter (a high school junior). Before he completed a paragraph the Board president stopped him because of the sexually explicit material. Board member Betty Jarvis started a discussion about why students were required to read material that could not be read at that meeting (which was televised locally by tape delay). In the discussion, Ms. Jarvis pointed out the Board was preventing teachers from being exposed to Pandas while allowing students to read material that is highly offensive. The Board rejected Pandas and deferred the obscene book to a committee which meant that nothing would be done about it.

A newspaper article had this to say:

In other business, the board agreed to place a written parental warning on the televised version of a regular school board meeting taped last Thursday, during which a delegation read aloud from the John Irving novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany.

"I thought we should bleep out the offensive words since children are going to be watching," (Board president) Luoni said, before conceding that he probably didn't have the votes for such an action.

Luoni halted Nitro parent Brad Liston in mid-reading last week when the text he read began making reference to male genitalia. 

Former Boston Herald columnist, Don Feder, aptly described the 1974 situation in his comments about the 2009 situation for conservatives.  "An April 3 (2009) Newsweek poll showed 62% of us do consider America "a Christian nation." But for those like our president, the nation's mood is determined not by the majority, but by the cultural elite--individuals who, by education and refinement, are entitled to shape the national consciousness for the rest of us."

All parties agree that the Textbook War made a nationwide impact.   The NEA, and other levobortomites, said the solution is separate schools.  That is exactly what some of the protest leaders also said needed to be done.  That may be the only area of agreement between the two diametrically opposed sides.

In these three articles I have portrayed the pro-bookers and the protesters in ways that the main stream media and academians have not done.  As I researched for the articles it seemed like every page I turned was like lifting a rotting chunk of wood and watching the roaches scurry to hide in the darkness.  To continue the analogy, the protesters stung the intellects of those who would censor conservative Judeo-Christian literature while screaming “censorship!” at anyone who called them on it.  Wasps stay to themselves until their home (nest) and family (primarily the babies--larvae and pupae) are threatened.  I would rather fly with some angry wasps than crawl through the dirt with roaches.

I have reported objective facts, admittedly with a subjective slant, to provide praise for the protesters who have been maliciously maligned for 35 years. 

Pro-bookers (whether they be liberals or levobortomites) very badly want to come across as besieged protectors of freedom of thought.  They cannot comprehend their own acts of censorship.  Another problem is that people like the 1974 pro-bookers have no objective basis for their concept of morality.  Their values are valueless.  They will tolerate almost anything except Bible BASED Christianity.

I do not hate the pro-bookers, but I detest what they believe and I do hate what they have done to America’s children.  I hope every pro-booker gets saved and finds the joy and peace of being a born again fundamental Christian.  Until them, I will resist their efforts to control the education of America’s children.  (See http://insectman.us/exodus-mandate-wv/index.htm.)

Thanks to the Kanawha County textbook protesters American Christians began an exodus out of Pharaoh’s schools in 1974.  Now we are at a place comparable to what the Children of Israel faced when confronted by the Red Sea.  Our decision about which way to move will determine the final destiny of America’s children.  Will we return to bondage?

Let us be obedient and step forward to lead our children to safety.  The 1974 Kanawha County, West Virginia book protesters could receive no higher honor!

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1.  I invited all of the key protest leaders to provide a statement of their own.  Those statements may be read in “In their Own Words” at (http://insectman.us/testimony/their-own-words.htm).

2.  My sources of information are in the Citations at (http://insectman.us/testimony/citations.htm).

3.  As new information arrives it will be posted in Addenda and Errata at (http://insectman.us/testimony/addenda-errata.htm).