Kanawha County textbook controversy
Encyclopedia
The Kanawha County textbook controversy was a violent school control struggle in the 20th century United States
. It led to the largest protests ever in the history of the county, the shooting of one bystander, and extended school closings.
recommended 325 books and textbooks to the school board for use in Kanawha elementary schools. Among these were titles such as America Reads and Language of Man. These textbooks were part of a new state curriculum that included for the first time the concepts of multiculturalism and egalitarianism in textbook writing. Most school board members saw no reason to question the state's decision, but board member Alice Moore was concerned by the term dialectology
, which implied the teaching of Appalachian English
and African American Vernacular English
as "equally correct" dialects, when she believed they could impede access to higher education and careers. The school board moved to review the books before sending them to schools. Upon receiving the review copies, Moore was disturbed by a quote from the Autobiography of Malcolm X in which he referred to Christians as "brainwashed"; she requested and received all 300 textbooks, and claims she found quotes from Alan Ginsburg
, Sigmund Freud
's Oedipus complex
, and convicted Black Panther
s such as Eldridge Cleaver
and George Jackson
.
Moore telephoned Mel Gabler
, a textbook evaluator who ran Educational Research Analysts
, a non-profit organization
in Texas. Gabler in return sent pamphlets and outlines of some of the ways in which the content of the books allegedly conflicted with Christian values, moral uprightness, and patriotism. Moore, the wife of a fundamentalist minister, reported her concerns to the board and local newspapers. On 23 May, Moore came to the school board meeting and charged that the textbooks were "filthy, disgusting trash, unpatriotic and unduly favoring blacks". She argued that the textbooks taught children to disrespect the beliefs of their parents and taught a brand of relativism that did not belong in West Virginia. She generated much publicity for her cause and won the support of the local Parent-Teacher Association
and the Magic Valley Mother's Club. However, the West Virginia Council of Churches supported the books.
On 27 June the school board met again, with over 1,000 local residents observing, and voted to approve the books after a three-hour debate over the merits of teaching a liberal curriculum. This was met with much consternation from conservative groups. Reverend Marvin Horan called for a boycott of all public schools. Fliers were distributed around the county which purported to demonstrate the lewdness of the books, but were actually quotations from completely different books like Sexual Politics
that were not part of the curriculum. When parents could not find these passages in their children's own textbooks, they accused the teachers of hiding the real books from them.
Reverend Charles Quigley asked Christians to pray that God would kill the three board members who voted to keep the books, leading one student to point out, "They're shooting people because they don't want to see violence in books." Kanawha's sheriff asked for state troopers to be sent in, but West Virginia Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
denied the request. Schools were closed several times to avoid further violence.
In April 1975 Marvin Horan was sentenced to three years in prison on charges related to the bombings, effectively ending the demonstration. In Fall 1975 the school board restored the full line of books that they had approved before to all county schools.
in "Understanding the New Right and its Impact on Education" (1983) made the argument that the actions of Kanawha County School Board Member Alice Moore and her fundamentalist Christian allies in the 1974 controversy represented a defining moment in not only educational politics but American political history as well. Arguing that the Kanawha County textbook controversy was the first major victory for conservative evangelical Christians in the politically polarizing cultural debates that emerged out of the 1960s social unrest, Kincheloe wrote in the early 1980s and in subsequent work that the victory was a key moment in what he and Aaron Gresson (2004) have labeled the right-wing recovery movement. This movement has profoundly shaped subsequent American education and electoral politics, as proponents have attempted to regain the power they perceived themselves to have lost in the 1960s cultural movements. In the case of the Kanawha County controversy, Moore and her supporters perceived that progressive secularists were undermining Christian values in their embrace of moral relativism, atheism and sexual experimentation (amongst other things) in educational textbooks a la 60s liberationism. Thus, Kincheloe's interpretation of the West Virginia controversy assumes a historical significance lost on many of those who have written about it over the last three and one half decades (Kincheloe, 2001).
After the textbook controversy, a previously nonexistent group of private "Christian schools" appeared throughout the state to teach values that residents found more appropriate.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It led to the largest protests ever in the history of the county, the shooting of one bystander, and extended school closings.
School Board Ruling
On 12 March 1974, the English Language Arts Textbook Committee of Kanawha County, West VirginiaKanawha County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 200,073 people, 86,226 households, and 55,960 families residing in the county. The population density was 222 people per square mile . There were 93,788 housing units at an average density of 104 per square mile...
recommended 325 books and textbooks to the school board for use in Kanawha elementary schools. Among these were titles such as America Reads and Language of Man. These textbooks were part of a new state curriculum that included for the first time the concepts of multiculturalism and egalitarianism in textbook writing. Most school board members saw no reason to question the state's decision, but board member Alice Moore was concerned by the term dialectology
Dialectology
Dialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
, which implied the teaching of Appalachian English
Appalachian English
Appalachian English is a common name for the Southern Midland dialect of American English. This dialect is spoken primarily in the Central and Southern Appalachian Mountain region of the Eastern United States, namely in North Georgia, Northwestern South Carolina, Southern West Virginia,...
and African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
as "equally correct" dialects, when she believed they could impede access to higher education and careers. The school board moved to review the books before sending them to schools. Upon receiving the review copies, Moore was disturbed by a quote from the Autobiography of Malcolm X in which he referred to Christians as "brainwashed"; she requested and received all 300 textbooks, and claims she found quotes from Alan Ginsburg
Alan Ginsburg
According to Forbes, Alan H. Ginsburg, Trustee since December 2006; Chief Executive Officer since 1987 of The CED Companies, a private company which develops, builds and manages multi-family apartment communities most notably on closed military installations in the Orlando area. He also serves as...
, Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
's Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
, and convicted Black Panther
Black panther
A black panther is typically a melanistic color variant of any of several species of larger cat. Wild black panthers in Latin America are black jaguars , in Asia and Africa they are black leopards , and in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars A black panther is...
s such as Eldridge Cleaver
Eldridge Cleaver
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a leading member of the Black Panther Party and a writer...
and George Jackson
George Jackson (Black Panther)
George Lester Jackson was an American convict who became a left-wing activist, Marxist, author, a member of the Black Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family prison gang...
.
Moore telephoned Mel Gabler
Mel and Norma Gabler
Melvin Nolan Freeman Gabler and his wife, Norma Elizabeth Rhodes Gabler were campaigners against public school textbooks which they regarded as "anti-family" or "anti-Christian"....
, a textbook evaluator who ran Educational Research Analysts
Educational Research Analysts
Educational Research Analysts is an organization based in Longview, Texas in the United States, founded by the late Mel and Norma Gabler to monitor public school textbooks....
, a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
in Texas. Gabler in return sent pamphlets and outlines of some of the ways in which the content of the books allegedly conflicted with Christian values, moral uprightness, and patriotism. Moore, the wife of a fundamentalist minister, reported her concerns to the board and local newspapers. On 23 May, Moore came to the school board meeting and charged that the textbooks were "filthy, disgusting trash, unpatriotic and unduly favoring blacks". She argued that the textbooks taught children to disrespect the beliefs of their parents and taught a brand of relativism that did not belong in West Virginia. She generated much publicity for her cause and won the support of the local Parent-Teacher Association
Parent-Teacher Association
In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...
and the Magic Valley Mother's Club. However, the West Virginia Council of Churches supported the books.
On 27 June the school board met again, with over 1,000 local residents observing, and voted to approve the books after a three-hour debate over the merits of teaching a liberal curriculum. This was met with much consternation from conservative groups. Reverend Marvin Horan called for a boycott of all public schools. Fliers were distributed around the county which purported to demonstrate the lewdness of the books, but were actually quotations from completely different books like Sexual Politics
Sexual Politics
Sexual Politics is a classic feminist text written by Kate Millett, said to be "the first book of academic feminist literary criticism", and "one of the first feminist books of this decade to raise nationwide male ire"....
that were not part of the curriculum. When parents could not find these passages in their children's own textbooks, they accused the teachers of hiding the real books from them.
Boycott and violence
The boycott escalated quickly. Nine thousand out of 45,000 elementary school students in the county were kept home from school. Thousands of miners, bus drivers, and trucking workers joined in the boycott. The Department of Education called for a compromise, but Reverend Horan denounced them, demanding that the boycott continue until the books were permanently removed and the supporting members of the school board fired. Bombs were planted at an elementary school and a school board building; another elementary school was dynamited, school buses were attacked with shotguns, and the homes of children who continued to attend school during the boycott were stoned. Alice Moore herself fled town during this point.Reverend Charles Quigley asked Christians to pray that God would kill the three board members who voted to keep the books, leading one student to point out, "They're shooting people because they don't want to see violence in books." Kanawha's sheriff asked for state troopers to be sent in, but West Virginia Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Arch Alfred Moore, Jr. was the 28th and 30th Governor of West Virginia from 1969 until 1977 and from 1985 until 1989. He was a Congressman from 1957 until entering the governor's office. He is a member of the United States Republican Party. He ran for reelection in 1988, but was defeated by...
denied the request. Schools were closed several times to avoid further violence.
In April 1975 Marvin Horan was sentenced to three years in prison on charges related to the bombings, effectively ending the demonstration. In Fall 1975 the school board restored the full line of books that they had approved before to all county schools.
Analysis
Joe L. KincheloeJoe L. Kincheloe
Joe Lyons Kincheloe, , was a professor and Canada Research Chair at the Faculty of Education, McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He wrote more than 45 books, numerous book-chapters, and hundreds of journal articles on issues including critical pedagogy, educational research, urban...
in "Understanding the New Right and its Impact on Education" (1983) made the argument that the actions of Kanawha County School Board Member Alice Moore and her fundamentalist Christian allies in the 1974 controversy represented a defining moment in not only educational politics but American political history as well. Arguing that the Kanawha County textbook controversy was the first major victory for conservative evangelical Christians in the politically polarizing cultural debates that emerged out of the 1960s social unrest, Kincheloe wrote in the early 1980s and in subsequent work that the victory was a key moment in what he and Aaron Gresson (2004) have labeled the right-wing recovery movement. This movement has profoundly shaped subsequent American education and electoral politics, as proponents have attempted to regain the power they perceived themselves to have lost in the 1960s cultural movements. In the case of the Kanawha County controversy, Moore and her supporters perceived that progressive secularists were undermining Christian values in their embrace of moral relativism, atheism and sexual experimentation (amongst other things) in educational textbooks a la 60s liberationism. Thus, Kincheloe's interpretation of the West Virginia controversy assumes a historical significance lost on many of those who have written about it over the last three and one half decades (Kincheloe, 2001).
After the textbook controversy, a previously nonexistent group of private "Christian schools" appeared throughout the state to teach values that residents found more appropriate.
External links
- News stories from the Charleston Gazette: school closings, shooting, letter.
- American RadioWorks documentary: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/textbooks/
- The West Virginia Encyclopedia (e-WV): Kanawha County textbook controversy exhibit