Skip Navigation

Sign In or Register

West-virginia-encyclopedia-text

A Battle of Cultures


Z_textbook_moore_reviewingtext_0627740001p_standard

The controversy began in April 1974, when the five-member Kanawha County Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt 325 recommended texts and supplementary books in language arts — some of which reflected more multiracial topics than those used in the past. After the vote, conservative board member Alice Moore (pictured) challenged some of the content, objecting to abuses of the English language and to what she considered anti-Christian and un-American themes. In particular, she was outraged at passages from The Autobiography of Malcolm X — one of the adopted books. Moore (pictured here at a June 1974 meeting) became a leader of the anti-textbook forces.


Related Articles

West Virginia Humanities Council | 1310 Kanawha Blvd E | Charleston, WV 25301 Ph. 304-346-8500 | © 2024 All Rights Reserved

About e-WV | Our Sponsors | Help & Support | Contact Us The essential guide to the Mountain State can be yours today! Click here to order.