TEXTBOOK PROTESTER TRUTH

Compiled by Karl C. Priest

LEFTWING LIBERALS WANT
THE KANAWHA COUNTY TEXTBOOK PROTESTERS TO BE REMEMBERED AS
NARROW-MINDED, IGNORANT, RELIGIOUS FANATICS, CENSORS, VIOLENT, AND RACISTS.

SLURS, LIES, EXAGGERATIONS, SENSATIONALISM,
HISTORICAL ERRORS, AND OMISSION OF KEY FACTS TO
PERPETUATE THEIR PROPAGANDA.

AN EXEMPLARY EXAMPLE IS
“DR. DURST DUPLICATES AND DESIGNS DISINFORMATION”.

AMAZINGLY, AND SADLY,
MANY CHRISTIANS AND CONSERVATIVES HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED.

THE KANAWHA COUNTY TEXTBOOK PROTESTERS (THE COURAGEOUS CORPS OF ‘74) WERE THE FIRST VICTIMS OF “FAKE NEWS.” THOSE FINE FOLKS WERE NOT FLAWLESS, BUT ANY REPORT THAT FINDS FAULT WITH THEM SHOULD BE FAIRLY EVALUATED BY THE FACTS ON THE TEXTBOOK PROTESTER TRUTH PAGES.

IF ANYONE CLAIMS THE PROTESTERS WERE ANYTHING OTHER THAN
PLEASANT PEOPLE--
THE ACCUSER'S ACCUSATION IS
A FABRICATION, EXAGGERATION, OR ABERRATION.

THIS PAGE WILL PROVIDE DOUCMENTATED FACTS THAT TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE “RACIST” SLUR.

MATERIAL WILL BE ADDED AS DEVELOPED.
Items are not arranged by priority.
(Typos are corrected when found without changing “update” reference.)

LAST UPDATE: 7-16-2022

PLEASE INFORM ME OF ANY TYPOS OR OTHER ERRORS.

There is ample material to set the record straight.
Gold nuggets of truth will glitter among piles of gray gravel propaganda.

Many accusations are repeated multiple times in separate articles and reports. No attempt has been made here to cite every inaccuracy although some duplication (not identical) have been arbitrarily included.

For detailed documentation of how
the propaganda has been perpetuated
see
INDISPUTABLE IGNOBLE IGNORANCE AND INSOLENCE

In order to fully understand the protesters as the Courageous Corps of ’74 and
the good citizens and patriots they really were
please read PROTESTER VOICES—THE 1974 TEXTBOOK TEA PARTY.
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The Kanawha County Textbook War was arguably one of the top three non-catastrophe events in West Virginia history. It also ranks in the top echelon of conservative history in America. The Kanawha County Textbook War has generated multiple articles, research papers, chapters in books and entire books.

The citations on this page are not intended to insinuate that the authors were in agreement with the protesters. To the contrary, the purpose is to demonstrate that even the most biased writer or researcher discloses facts that contradict the widely held misconceptions of the protesters. The folks who stood up for their children and their country in 1974 were good people—the kind of folks most Americans would want to have as neighbors. It is time that the truth is told!

My comments are in red.
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Elmer Fike, prominent Nitro businessman and founder of the Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks, exemplified the white man’s lack of understanding of the black experience: “The only people who were racist were the blacks. I went to talk to them, and they nearly threw me out because I quoted a black author [George Schuyler], and that made them very mad. I went to the NAACP in Charleston and I said, ‘I think you misunderstand us. We are on the same side of this thing as you people....They were committed to be against us.... I really felt the whole textbook thing degraded the blacks in many respects, degraded them terribly”. Footnote 47 McHenry, Justin J., "Silent, no more: The 1974 Kanawha County textbook controversy and the rise of conservatism in America" (2006). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. West Virginia University. 63 If you do not think that blacks can be racists see “Racial Reality”.

The protestors rode the coattails of George Wallace throughout the entire controversy. McHenry, Justin J., "Silent, no more: The 1974 Kanawha County textbook controversy and the rise of conservatism in America" (2006). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. West Virginia University. 52 Mr. McHenry tried to tie the protesters to Wallace because Wallace is considered a major racist. Facts on this page prove the Protesters were not racists. On the next page, McHenry states that “Wallace, the presidential candidate, received a little less than nine percent of the total Kanawha County vote.”

Subtle racism appeared in many of the objections, especially in relation to works by controversial black authors. McHenry, Justin J., "Silent, no more: The 1974 Kanawha County textbook controversy and the rise of conservatism in America" (2006). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. West Virginia University. 59 If you cannot find real racism you have to imagine subtle racism. See “Racial Reality”.

One of the Protest leaders, pastor Avis Hill (whose second wife was black), recalled that, “My church, Freedom Gospel Mission for Human Development was in Amandeville, just outside of St. Albans. At least one half of my congregation was made up of African Americans from a poverty-ridden area. There were poor whites as well. One night I received a phone call from one of the black families. They informed me, with their hearts being broken, that they had received a visit from a member of the Black Panthers. They were told that if they attended my church again the Panthers would burn their house to the ground. This put fear in the lives of the black families and they all stopped coming to my church. I asked if I could come and visit and have prayer with them and was told, “No, please Reverend, we are being watched and we don't want to place our family in harm’s way.” But the NAACP was somehow convinced I was racist.” PROTESTER VOICES--The 1974 Textbook Tea Party, page 295
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A few days before board member Alice Moore saw the proposed texts she attended a conference in Houston, Texas where she met the president of the Arizona school board. Retired Air Force Lieutenant colonel Stephen S. Jenkins (a black man) brought out that blacks are misrepresented in texts when they are depicted as poor knife carrying slum dwellers. After the textbook controversy broke out, Colonel Jenkins stated that he emphatically agreed with Mrs. Moore about the way the new Kanawha County textbooks portrayed blacks. He also said the books “were objectionable from the standpoint of content and vulgarities and obscenities. They were objectionable from the standpoint of very low quality” and some of the books invaded a student’s privacy. Human Events Feb. 22, 1975, pg 3.
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Paul Cowan (author of The Tribes of America) was a self-described “political radical” and part of the “New York left” (13) wrote for the ultra-liberal Village Voice when he came to Kanawha County in 1974. His experience resulted in a chapter he titled “A Fight over America’s Future.” Interestingly, Cowan chose to couple (94) that chapter with one about Jesse Jackson who, at that time, represented the morality of blacks “based upon the church-oriented traditions of the rural south.” Blacks and textbook protesters “had a great deal in common.” (94). Cowan, Paul. The Tribes of America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977
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Avis Hill said, “The media would move themselves to any angle, in order to have a KKK robed person seem to be standing behind one of the ministers, trying to make it appear we were endorsing the KKK, which was far from the truth. I renounced the Klan and made a lot of people angry at me. My church, Freedom Gospel Mission for Human Development was in Amandeville, just outside of St. Albans. At least one half of my congregation was made up of African Americans from a poverty-ridden area. There were poor whites as well. One night I received a phone call from one of the black families. They informed me, with their hearts being broken, that they had received a visit from a member of the Black Panthers. They were told that if they attended my church again the Panthers would burn their house to the ground. This put fear in the lives of the black families and they all stopped coming to my church. I asked if I could come and visit and have prayer with them and was told, ‘No, please Reverend, we are being watched and we don’t want to place our family in harm’s way.’” (Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party, page 295)

After leaving West Virginia Avis went on to a long ministry to the homeless in West Palm Beach, Florida. Any Google search of images for Westgate Tabernacle or Oasis Ministries will show Avis loved and was loved by folks of all colors.

Mr. and Mrs. Avis Hill (2012)

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Dr. Jack Welch, associate professor in the Department of English at West Virginia University, said, “Nor was the problem based on racial tensions in the region”. (Welch, Jack. “Cultural Revolution in Appalachia.” The Educational Forum Nov. 1976: 22.)
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The president of the local NAACP “decided there are definite racial overtones in the Kanawha County textbook dispute. The president said that “we know it.” His proof was, “If you go to the outskirts of Kanawha City, you’ll see signs painted on the rocks saying ‘get the Negro literature out of the schools.’ Various members of the Negro community have had conversations with some of the protesters to the effect that references to people like Elridge Cleaver are a disgrace and they don’t want people reading about accomplishments of this kind of person.” He went on to state that people in the eastern end of the county had freely stated opposition to blacks being represented. (Charleston Gazette 11-7-1974) Let’s take his comments in reverse order. (1) I could have went to the Triangle District (the so-called “black part of town”) and gotten the same comments except about whites. A few racists (of any color) do not set the standard for a whole class of people. (2) He was right about Cleaver. The protesters had trouble with him being a proud rapist (of black and white women) and an-ex convict. It had nothing to do with his color. When Cleaver later got saved, no pro-booker* liberal or black liberal (to my knowledge) made an effort to get Soul on Fire into the public schools. The protesters would have been proud of that book. (3) There are frequent references to signs that said “Get the Nigger Books Out of the County.” (Kay, Trey. “Great Kanawha County Textbook War.” Goldenseal, Fall 2011: 38. In the article it is spelled “n-----". The audio documentary of the same title uses the word.) "I searched three large collections of newspaper articles and did not find a single photo of such a sign. I am certain that, had there been such signs, one would have been front page news. I am mystified that pro-bookers* did not post such a sign to discredit the protesters." (From page 176 of Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party.) The two quotes used are suspect in themselves.

In the aforementioned article the NAACP official announced a planned lawsuit to reinstate the books and “Sadly (and revealingly as to where the actual racism lay) the NAACP lawsuit would have required the board of education to ‘seek out black candidates for the position of superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent of schools. And to more positively implement an affirmative program to employ more black complete administrators…’ Thirty five years later no black has held the position of school superintendent and few blacks attained high positions as school administrators. In 1974 there were no blacks on the board of education, few (if any) in the county school administration, and to date only two blacks have ever been Kanawha County Board of Education members. One of them was appointed to a vacant spot and served about six months.” Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party (pgs. 15-16)

The National Education Association investigation found the textbook controversy to have a lot to do with race. The NEA concluded the protestors threatened the newly won rights of racial and minority groups to be included in the textbooks, and the protest was then, in part, a response to the growing black presence in America. McHenry, Justin J., "Silent, no more: The 1974 Kanawha County textbook controversy and the rise of conservatism in America" (2006). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. West Virginia University. 62 Like typical liberals, the NEA has to use the Race Card since they do not have a valid argument. See the comment above.
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The protesters did object to some material by black authors. To not do so would have been patronizing to blacks. The Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks president, Elmer Fike, tried to reach out to the black community. He went to the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and tried to convince them that the books made it appear that blacks lacked opportunities in America. While trying to read from the black author, George Schuyler, Mr. Fike was rudely shouted down. Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party, pg. 11
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One wonders to what extent Ms. Lauri Wynn of the NEA promoted racism. Until she appeared at a NEA rally there had been no suggestion of racism in the issue…When the KKK came to town, it received far more publicity than it deserved. Compare the coverage: The Imperial Wizard got a big picture and a long story. When Max Rafferty, the past superintendent of the California school system and dean of a prestigious college spoke at our Alliance hearing, he got about two lines. A one-day meeting by the Kan was in the paper for days, but our three-day hearings were barely covered. Fike, Elmer. “Textbook Controversy in Perspective and other Related Essays” , 1974-1975 (pg. 9 January 30, 1975)
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I have an undated article from the Charleston Gazette headlined “Blacks Unify, Criticize handling of Text Clash.” From the article: “’I’m surprised at the audacity and nerve of some white people,’ the Rev. Ronald English, representing the Black Alliance Group, said, ‘to suggest what is best for our children.’ That, and several other charges, were aimed at board member Alice Moore, who said she is certain many black families do not approve of some material being introduced into classrooms. Bernard Hawkins, president of the Charleston Branch of the NAACP, said the board has been dominated ‘by one female board member.’” Besides Mr. Hawkins’s sexist comment, he seemed to miss the fact that five female white women (Charleston Gazette photo 12-10-74, pg 1B) choose the books that black Kanawha County students would read as part of the school curriculum. A representative of the Business and Professional men’s Club “said that ‘no people, be they from Mississippi (referring to Alice Moore) or be they owner of a chemical plant (referring to protest leader Elmer Fike), should speak for the black people.’” I find no record of the gentleman objecting to board member Russell Isaacs (owner of the Heck’s chain of discount stores) or James Lewis (who had recently arrived from another state) speaking on behalf of black people. The difference between those he objected to and the two examples I provide was not skin color, but liberal beliefs. The book Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party puts the slur of racism in the trash heap of prejudiced lies where it belongs.
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Alice Moore claims that the reason black authors are so often excluded from her curriculum is not because they are black but because so many black authors do not accept the moral/philosophical positions that Mrs. Moore and her supporters see as inviolate. In addition, Moore contends that most attempts to teach interracial understanding have actually generated race hatred. Therefore, she suggests, the schools should ignore the question of ethnicity and concentrate on the inculcation of Americanism. Kincheloe, Joe L. Understanding the New Right and Its Impact on Education. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1983: 31.
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It wasn’t so much that the people couldn’t stomach militant black writers, as they couldn’t abide them alone, without any conterfailing articles that related to their values. Seltzer, Curtis. “West Virginia Book War—A Confusion of Goals.” The Nation, Nov. 2, 1974: 433.
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The Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbook (a protester group) ran an ad that included the fact that "The protesters are accused of racism, yet we supported the only black candidate running for the legislature. Mr. James Lewis (pro-book* leader) refused to do this." Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party, pg.114
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Some black folks were brave enough to agree that the protesters had a point. As a black, I feel Mrs. Moore should be commended for the stand she took at the board meeting. I too feel our children's time should not be wasted by reading some "rapist-criminal's" writings while noble authors like Rev. Wilkins and Mr. Booker T. Washington are left out. She explained how all children should be taught the standard English language (this is our language too) rather than improper speaking. Her reason was so all children would have an equal chance to acquire better positions, etc. (Letter-to-editor. Charleston Daily Mail 9-25 74. (For a similar letter see pg.14 of Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party.)
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I’m an old fashioned liberal…And it is easy to dismiss parents stomping about in their tee-shirts and workboots as ignorant, rural hardhats…What would happen if the Newark school board decided to issue Little Black Sambo as a third-grade reader? Marburger, Carl. “The West Virginia Textbooks.” New York Times. October 24, 1974: 41.
Marburger was the former New Jersey Commissioner of Education and when he wrote the editorial he was the senior associate of the National Citizens in Education.
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Moore’s race-based claims about the books became less prevalent over time. (Mason, Carol. “An American Conflict: Representing the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy.” Appalachian Journal. Spring 2005: 367)
Ms. Mason, as exposed in Chapter 2 of Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party, is far from being an objective scholar. This particular quote came from the original objection Alice Moore made regarding the books. Mrs. Moore objected to the teaching of dialect instead of correct English grammar. That was the only thing Mrs. Moore was looking for. The selection committee brought up the subject at the May 1974 board meeting. The moral issues were discovered after the books were examined. Dr. Mason's propaganda piece is one of the silliest pieces of supposed scholarship I have ever encountered. Mason uses a quote from protester hater Nelle Wood as an attempt to prove her point. Wood bitterly called the protester “stupid” in “The Great Textbook War” documentary which aired on West Virginia Public Radio (WVPR) on October 22, 2009 (time mark 49:00) . Dr. Mason used over eight pages (366-375) to try to prove her slur that the protest was racially motivated. As I prove in Chapter 1 of Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea P arty, THE PROTEST WAS NOT RACIALLY MOTIVATED !

To document the claim about Mrs. Moore’s motivations: “At the April 11 meeting…Alice Moore…listened to the presentations of the textbook selection committee and responded with skepticism to their comments about the teaching of ‘dialectology’…Curiously, it was this initial, relatively trivial objection, raised in response to the committee’s objection, which led Mrs. Moore to demand that the books be adopted ‘tentatively’…It would lead to careful examination of the books and to far more serious criticism.” Hillocks, George, Jr. “Books and Bombs: Ideological Conflict and the Schools—A case Study of the Kanawha County Book Protest.” School Review Vol. 86, No. 4 (Aug., 1978): 633-634 Also see: Books and Bombs (Hillocks Hits Some Homeruns)

Cleaver’s discussion of raping white women as an act of insurgency was difficult for the staunchest advocates of the books to defend. (Mason, Carol. “An American Conflict: Representing the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy.” Appalachian Journal. Spring 2005: 370) This quote is from Mason’s lengthy attempt to cast the protest as race based. She neglected to mention that Cleaver said he learned to rape by raping black women. Feminists, if not blinded by liberalism, should have been outraged.
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(Referring to the NEA panel’s devotion to the racism--65 examples—in the protester review committee’s list of objections to the book) Why the NEA panel should concentrate on 65 objections and exclude nearly 1,500 from consideration is, at best, difficult to explain. Hillocks, George, Jr. “Books and Bombs: Ideological Conflict and the Schools—A case Study of the Kanawha County Book Protest.” School Review Vol. 86, No. 4 (Aug., 1978): 638
Also see: Books and Bombs (Hillocks Hits Some Homeruns)
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Alice Moore, a member of the board, made two major objections to the books. She charged that: (1) they were selected without any community representation, and (2) the books taught dialectology (the study of minority and nonstandard dialects)—a practice which she believed would promote the deterioration of standard English grammar and speech. Burger, Robert H. “The Kanawha County Textbook Controversy: A Study of Communications and Power.” Library Quarterly 48.2 (1978): 150-151.
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After the beginning of the new year (1975) the Klan’s activities seemed largely aimed at promoting their own organization in the region.” (Denman, William N. “Them Dirty, Filthy Books”: The Textbook War in West Virginia.” Free Speech Yearbook 1976. Ed. Gregg Phifer. Falls Church, VA: Speech Communications Association, 1977. 38.)
That was the Klan’s intention from the beginning.

When the protesters were accused by the Charleston chapter of the NAACP of being motivated by racism, the charge was repeatedly denied. There is little doubt, however, that much of the protest against the books written by Eldridge Ceaver, Malcolm X, and others, and against elementary texts portraying black and white children together, stemmed from racial fears on the part of protesters. [Denman, William N. “Them Dirty, Filthy Books”: The Textbook War in West Virginia.” Free Speech Yearbook 1976. Ed. Gregg Phifer. Falls Church, VA: Speech Communications Association, 1977. 44. (Footnote 19)]
The “little doubt” existed only in the authors mind and the minds of others who had no solid rebuttal arguments to the protesters’ points. Pre being born again Cleaver and Malcolm X were racists who presented a poor picture of the greatness of black folks. Regarding the often used attack of pictures of black and white kids—The protester objections to the books never mentioned that image. It is as likely that a black racist objected to the depiction as it is possible that a rare racist protester had a problem with it. The author goes on to cite an article that claimed the protesters were upset with racial integration. That is hogwash. School integration in Kanawha County had gone smoothly. I personally witnessed that as a student in the early sixties. Had conservative and Christian blacks not allowed their liberal leaders to stifle (censor) the convictions held by most of the black community, a lot of black folks would have been arm-in-arm with their white brothers and sisters who were protesters.
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One of the main methods liberals have used to portray the Kanawha County Textbook Protesters as racists involves the involvement of the Ku Klux Klan and particularly the fact that protest leader, Marvin Horan, attended a KKK rally. First of all, the Klan inserted itself several months after the protest began (“Klan Chief Plans Text Rally Here” Charleston Daily Mail, 12-20-1974) in order to promote the Klan. The group received almost no local support and faded away. However, the appearance of robed Klansmen made news and liberals have made much ado about it. Marvin Horan made the unfortunate mistake of attending a Klan rally. That incident is crucial to the leftwing liberal lie that the protesters were racists. The other side of the story is told in “Marvin Horan was not a Racist”.

The Charleston Daily Mail (1-21-1974) reported the only group friendly to the Klan was the Non-Christian American Parents. Elmer Fike, president of the anti-textbook “Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks said 'We’re very upset. There was nothing said about racism until the NEA (National Education Association) came in and brought it up.” Protest leader Ezra Graley said that 'he had nothing to do with the Klan one way or the other'.” The West Virginia Advisory Committee to the U. S. Commission on civil Rights concluded that “Kanawha County textbook protesters may not be happy with nor understand things that have been done or said in their name.”

On August 16, 1975 the Klan held another rally which the Charleston Daily Mail reported as “sparsely attended”. About 75 people were present. The Charleston Public Safety Director said the Klan efforts regarding the textbook protest a “dying gasp.” He “added that FBI monitoring of Klan activities indicates the group has no broad-based support here.”

Trey Kay’s award winning documentary The Great Textbook War reported that “the textbook protesters had to spend time and money publicly disavowing them (the Klan)”. (Kay also wrote that in his Goldenseal magazine article “Great Kanawha County Textbook War” (Fall 2011, pg. 38)
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The Reverend Ronald English, a member of the local chapter of the NAACP, felt uncomfortable having a white school board member suggest what was the best representation of the black community.” (Kay, Trey. “Great Kanawha County Textbook War. Goldenseal Fall 2011: 37)
Pastor English was comfortable with the other four white board members suggesting (mandating) what was best for the black community.
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The action of the Kanawha County Board of Education during the infamous Textbook Controversy of 1974-75 provides another example. Board members Matthew Kinsolving, Russell Isaacs and Dr. Harry Stansbury along with Superintendent Kenneth Underwood were on the right side of history when they approved multicultural texts for a more inclusive curriculum in Kanawha County schools. This action set the pace for diversity awareness in curriculum development and character education. (English, Ronald. “Recent Decision does not Reflect State’s History of Inclusive Judgment.” Charleston Gazette January 15, 2012.
He left out Doug Stump and Al Anson (who Stump replaced). Let’s see -- that is six white men. How’s that for diversity? Since 1974, to date, you can count Kanawha County black board of education members on one hand using only the thumb. Liberalism knows no skin tone. It is not surprising that Pastor English, who was an assistant minister to Martin Luther King, Jr., and served on the citizen Review committee in 1974 (to my knowledge) did not advocate for Dr. King’s material to be in the book selection instead of Malcolm X. Also, English’s reference to “character education” is laughable in light of the West Virginia School News headlines after the Protest era.
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When the protest broke out, I was coaching a church basketball team that had only one white kid. Prior to the protest, I helped establish a church in Orchard Manor (http://insectman.us/testimony/orchard-manor.htm ) that only had four whites of about 30 people who attended. During the protest, I drove a bus, for another church, filled with mostly black kids that went to my integrated church. Yes, it was a church that supported the protest...The most beloved and respected (by students and parents) teacher I worked with, in what liberals would call a racist area (Cabin Creek), was black. Priest, Karl. Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party. Poca, WV: Praying Mantis Publishing, 2010. 9-11
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Arizona state school board president, Lt. Col. Jenkins (a black Man) emphatically agreed with Mrs. Moore that the West Virginia textbooks portrayed blacks in a very negative way, and said he thought she was correct in wanting to get other textbooks into the schools...(Jenkins) said Arizona has been...in the process of reviewing many of the same texts that have been embroiled in the West Virginia controversy. “We found that many of them were objectionable. They were objectionable from the standpoint of content and vulgarities and obscenities. They were objectionable from the standpoint of very, very low quality.” Anonymous. Human Events Magazine (Feb. 22, 1975, p. 3).
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The protesters were accused of being racist because people from other places were protesting busing of students for racial reasons. Avis Hill was a prominent protest leader who went to Boston and Louisville to speak to those groups. In (3-20 and 3-21-2012) emails to me, Avis wrote, “ We were so outnumbered by media, government, and every power you could think of. I just was taking a play out of the play book that the Blacks had just achieved. There is power in numbers and I was hoping to get a national movement going. I never ever saw busing as a race matter. I was seeing it as another Big Brother move on our citizens just like the textbooks being forced down our throats, whether we liked it or not.” The strategy of busing for rail “balance” is not as simple as some want to believe. In a Gallup poll taken in the early 1970s, very low percentages of whites (4%) and blacks (9%) supported busing outside of local neighborhoods. A 1978 study by the RAND Corporation set out to find why whites were opposed to busing and concluded that it was not because they held racist attitudes, but because they believed it destroyed neighborhood schools and camaraderie and increased discipline problems... Ultimately, even many black leaders, from Wisconsin State Rep. Annette Polly Williams, a Milwaukee Democrat, to Cleveland Mayor Michael White, have come to the conclusion that it is patronizing to think that minority students need to sit next to a white student to learn, and as such led efforts to end busing... During the 1970s, 60 Minutes reported that some members of Congress, government, and the press who supported busing most vociferously sent their own children to private schools, including Senator Edward Kennedy...Thurgood Marshall. Many of the judges who ordered busing also sent their children to private schools. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desegregation_busing_in_the_United_States#Criticism)
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The protesters were NOT racist. Just do the math.
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Widely ignored and censored is the protester group “Business and Professional People’s Alliance for Better Textbooks” which had business people as well as several teachers as members. Elmer Fike, the owner of a local chemical plant, was the president. He wrote a series of articles which were compiled into “Textbook Controversy in Perspective and other Related Essays” (1974-1975). Following are some excerpts.

When the KKK came to town, it received far more publicity than it deserved. Compare the coverage: The Imperial Wizard got a big picture and a long story. When Max Rafferty, the past superintendent of the California school system and dean of a prestigious college spoke at our Alliance hearing, he got about two lines. A one-day meeting by the Kan was in the paper for days, but our three-day hearings were barely covered. (pg. 9 January 30, 1975)

One wonders to what extent Ms. Lauri Wynn of the NEA promoted racism. Until she appeared at a NEA rally there had been no suggestion of racism in the issue… (pg. 9 January 30, 1975)
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Even the KKK showed up, but several months later—after the main action was complete. (635) Hillocks, George, Jr. “Books and Bombs: Ideological Conflict and the Schools—A case Study of the Kanawha County Book Protest.” School Review Vol. 86, No. 4 (Aug., 1978): 632-654.
The KKK was NOT a major part of the protest!! Also see: Books and Bombs (Hillocks Hits Some Homeruns)
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Mrs. Wood said that one of the objections to an elementary textbook was the picture on the cover of a black boy standing next to a white girl. She added that a black boy was portrayed as a ‘hero’ in the book rather than the traditional ‘secondary role’ normally relegated to a minority character. (Garland, Gregg. “Niles Teachers Hear ‘Horror Stories’ of Censorship”. Tribune Chronicle June 18, 1977: 11)
This is a statement made by Nell Wood to a group of Ohio teachers. Wood was the chairman of the committee of five white female teachers that selected the protested books. Mrs. Wood was filled with hate toward the protesters in 1974 and her hatred had not subsided in 2009. She referred to the protesters as “stupid”) in the radio documentary “The Great Textbook War” (point 47:00 at http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/textbooks/). In the same program she complained that no one ever wanted to hear her opinion (point 49:45 of original version—not on the website version). That claim is disproven by this incident and others cited on page 180 of Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party. Mrs. Wood failed to provide a citation or proof of such an objection allegedly made by protesters. The protesters provided a 500+ page document listing objections in detail. The FACT is that this accusation is NOT TRUE.
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Mrs. Moore singled out a work by black poet Gwendolyn Brooks (“I think it must be lonely to be God/ Nobody loves a master...”)... (“The Book Banners.” Newsweek 30 September 1974: 94.)
First: The color of the author’s skin was irrelevant. Second: There were many similar examples. The banishment of God as understood by most residents of Kanawha County was the issue--especially in regard to complete censoring of such a viewpoint. Also, the author of this “report” (that is being generous with the term) did exactly what the protesters were often accused of—taking items out of context. Some of the most outrageous items I found in researching the literature about the Textbook War were found in this “news” article and another one of the same title dated 9 June 1975.
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The fact is that these publishers are themselves so bigoted that they present Negroes as being unable to speak proper English, and cite rapists and Communists, as black spokesmen. (Hoar, William P. “Parents Revolt—When Textbooks are Propaganda.” American Opinion Nov. 1974: 15.
Mr. Hoar is probably the only conservative writer quoted on these pages. His comments are insightful.)

Other comments by Mr. Hoar:

What has raised the anger and struck a responsive chord in all West Virginia is the “Liberal” challenge to their own authority over their families, their hearth and kin, the faith of their fathers, and the temples of their God. (p. 16)
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First. those who attributed the book dispute to the fascist leanings of the working class or to racism overlooked the conservatism and racism of university professors and corporation executives all over America. Since suburban folk liked the modern texts and fundamentalists did not and racism is common to both, racism cannot be a sufficient reason for approving or disapproving the texts. This is not to excuse racism but to say racism and the book dispute are both conditions of our society. Ironically, the texts that were designed to increase communication and understanding between groups may reinforce racism insofar as they, like the contemporary literature they are drawn from, prefer to picture blacks as strident and militant in response to a pathological world a la Norman Mailer's White Negro rather than as decent, loving, normal people. Watras, Joseph. “The textbook Dispute in West Virginia, A New Form of Oppression.” Educational Leadership October 1975: 22.
(The article had one half-page photo of a classroom damaged by a dynamite blast.)
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See the so-called racist Avis in Action.
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(NAACP member Reverend Ronald) English noted that many African Americans in Kanawha County were “very conservative.” Many of them, English explained, agreed that the textbooks included offensive “anti-Christian…unpatriotic” material. Such ideas, many conservative African Americans believed, ought not to be taught in Kanawha County Schools. Laats, Adam. The Other School Reformers-Conservative Activism in American Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015: 224

Arizona’s African American state school board president, Stephen Jenkins, warned of an anti-black ideology masquerading as “multiculturalism. When textbooks included only African American voices from crumbling slums, or when angry, violent black literature was included, Jenkins insisted, such “multiculturalism” actually meant anti-black racism…Elmer Fike explained that protesters should be considered the true anti-racists. The books themselves, by including violent African American voices, only “pit black against white.” Laats, Adam. The Other School Reformers-Conservative Activism in American Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015: 226

(T)he racial meanings of the Kanawha County protest defy easy categorization. Laats, Adam. The Other School Reformers-Conservative Activism in American Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015: 226

Also see the comprehensive review of The Other School Reformers-Conservative Activism in American Education.
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Trey Kay produced “The Great Textbook War” which is a radio documentary that won a Peabody Award. David Skinner reported, in Humanities magazine, that Trey Kay said that “race was not, in fact, a part of the debate. The controversy, he says, actually ‘pit one group of white people against another group of white people.’”
(Humanities, September/October 2010, Volume 31, Number 5 https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2010/septemberoctober/statement/battle-over-books)
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“‘Objections to ‘non-standard English’ can be a coded way of registering dislike of blacks and other minorities. It can also be what it purports to be: objection to non-standard English.”
Martin, William. With God on Our Side. New York: Broadway Books, 1996: 120 (Chapter 5: “The Culture War”)
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“Although selections by black authors contained some strong language and gritty scenes, racism could not account for all of the discomfort over ‘realism’ in the books…(Alice Moore said,) “The books were filled with all kinds of profanity…There was a play in a junior high book’, she recalled, ‘to be acted out in a classroom, and it was a story of a fifteen –year-old boy’s first visit to a prostitute.”
Martin, William. With God on Our Side. New York: Broadway Books, 1996: 124 (Chapter 5: “The Culture War”)
The author’s skin color had no bearing on the protesters objections.
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The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) did a slanted program “(“Things Fell Apart 2: Dirty Books”) that aired on November 16, 2021. (See https://www.insectman.us/testimony/textbook-protester-truth/the-facts.htm.)

The program used the book Nigger, by Dick Gregory, as a means to cast the Kanawha County Textbook Protesters as racists.

During the protest, my focus was on the elemental level books. After hearing the BBC program, I checked out, from the Kanawha County Public Library Gregory’s book (Gregory, Dick. Nigger. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964.)

It did describe the racism Gregory experienced, but pointed out several non-racist whites. I identified with his poverty having grown up in a housing project (https://www.insectman.us/testimony/orchard-manor.htm). I heard the word “nigger” used far more by black folks than whites.

There are several references to God and Jesus in a positive context. (pages 6, 7)

Despite several references to alcohol use, the book provides some good history, but it is ruined (for non-adults) by the profanity.

There are lots of profanities in the book, that many parents would object to, even in 2022. I found the following:

Ass: 1 time
bitch: 11 times
bull shit: 2 times
Christ’s sake: 1
damn 10 (alone): 5 times
fucking: 2 times
God d----: 8 times
hell: 20 times
son-of-a-bitch: 2 times
mother f---er: 3 times

Bottom line: The 1974 Kanawha County Textbook protesters were right to include Gregory’s book on the list of books they did not want forced upon their children.
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See the addendum to 'Godless Books': The 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy for more points that confirm the Kanawha County Textbook Protesters were not racists.
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*Pro-bookers is a non-complimentary term I use in Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea P arty.
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This page is based upon points made in a Powerpoint presentation which was prepared to portray the truth about the 1974 textbook protesters to parry the pompous people who have poured propaganda into the public’s perception. Some of the material was overlooked or unavailable when the protesters’ book was being researched. More detailed material can be obtained from Protester Voices: The 1974 Textbook Tea Party. That is a book liberals do not want anyone to read!

The TRUTH is that the Kanawha Coutny Textbook Protesters were true patriots and heroes. They consisted of thousands of humble people who have suffered humiliation because they stood up for children and America in 1974. The Kanawha County Textbook Protesters deserve to be honored.

For documented facts that the Courageous Corps of ’74 were also NOT NARROW-MINDED, NOT IGNORANT, NOT RELIGIOUS FANATICS, NOT CENSORS, and NOT VIOLENT--click on each slur. Also, please see PERTINENT POINTS which do not fit the slur categories. Note: Some items may apply to more than one category. In that case the item is placed arbitrarily into whatever I feel is the best fit. The anchor for these particular pages is “The Facts”.

A detailed example of how propagandists disguised as professors have passed deception down the line since 1974 is in “A Tale of Three Tiny Tomes”.

A video is worth a million words. A video is worth a million words. See Textbook War videos and see if you believe your lying eyes and ears.

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