PROTESTER VOICES-- The 1974 Textbook Tea Party
CENSORSHIP OF THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GREAT TEXTBOOK WAR
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This is a letter I wrote. It was ignored, therefore it is de facto censorship of the book Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party.
22 May 2014
West Virginia Humanities Council:
The West Virginia Humanities Council should be willing to “think outside the box.” An explanation of “humanities” states that the “humanities introduce us to people we have never met, places we have never visited, and ideas that may have never crossed our minds.” (emphasis added) The same source declares, “Disciplines of the humanities …can help us face the tension between the concerns of individuals and those of groups and promote civil and informed discussion of conflicts, placing current issues in historical perspective.”
This is the 40 th anniversary of a major West Virginia (with national implications) event—The Kanawha County Textbook Protest. I have proven that much of what has been reported about the Protest has been propaganda. See Textbook Protester Truth.
I encourage the West Virginia Humanities Council to invite me to do a PowerPoint presentation that presents the protesters’ side of the story. No secular organization has ever been fair-minded enough to allow the protester side be heard. In 2009 the Kanawha Valley Historical and Preservation Society sponsored a forum that featured people from both sides of the Textbook War. However, all follow-up events excluded a legitimate protester point of view.
With this recent incident, we see that the 1974 protesters proved that parental objections will not cease as long as there are public schools.
Will the West Virginia Humanities Council take a step toward accurately recording history or, by its silence, contribute to the pile of inaccuracies negatively reflecting upon the 1974 protesting parents and their posterity? That would require thinking “outside the box.”
Yours truly,
Karl Priest
Author of Protester Voices—The 1974 Textbook Tea Party.
2014 Little Lecture Schedule
Sunday, March 30
Writing Daily Commentary
Hoppy Kercheval
The long-time host of radio’s Statewide Talkline Hoppy Kercheval also writes a daily online commentary for West Virginia MetroNews Network. He will talk about the challenge of regularly composing topical pieces, the processes involved, and reader reaction to them.
Sunday, April 27
Hippie Homesteaders: Impact on West Virginia
Carter Taylor Seaton
Seaton will discuss her new book, Hippie Homesteaders, about the lasting cultural and economic impact of the back-to-the-land movement in West Virginia.
Sunday, May 18
Aspiring to Greatness: WVU Since World War II
Ronald L. Lewis
West Virginia Historian Laureate Ronald L. Lewis will trace the emergence of West Virginia University as a major land-grant institution as detailed in his new history of the school, Aspiring to Greatness.
Sunday, June 22
A History of Charleston as Lived by Four Families
Brooks McCabe
Charleston business leader and state senator Brooks McCabe will share his research on the central roles played by the Hale, Dickinson, Smith, and James families in the defining moments of the business and cultural development of the capital city.
http://www.wvhumanities.org/littlelecture.htm
For quick accurate facts see Textbook Protester Truth.
TEXTBOOK WAR MAIN PAGE