Tea Party

Protester Voices--The 1974 Textbook Tea Party

by Karl C. Priest

A 1974 grassroots uprising in West Virginia made a major impression upon an untold number of people all over America. Known as the Textbook War (TBW), its effects continue to influence and inspire the American people.

That event was the second Tea Party in America. Some believe the TBW launched the modern conservative movement. The TBW has been called "the first shot in the cultural war." Parents, objecting to anti-Christian and anti-American textbooks, shut down the state's largest school system (about 45,000 students) and garnered intense national and worldwide attention.

The author, Karl Priest, spent over 34 years as a public school teacher and principal. Protester Voices is a first time first-hand account of the Kanawha County Textbook War told from the viewpoint of the protesters.

Read the personal accounts of school board member Alice Moore, five key preachers (Graley, Hill, Horan, Thaxton, and Quigley), and several other actual pr otesters.

See many photographs of the protesters in action. No edited media interviews. No slanted research papers. No censorship. THIS IS A THE BOOK LIBERALS WILL WANT TO BAN OR BURN!

LEE STROBEL (best-selling Christian author) featured the Textbook War in chapter one of The Case for a Creator.

LARRY PRATT (executive director of Gun Owners of America) said, "The Textbook War was one of the major battles of the cultural wars."

CONNIE MARSHNER (national conservative leader) declared that the 1974 protesters had old-fashioned American virtues and they woke up the rest of the country.

ROBERT K. DORNAN (former United States Congressman) said that the media discovered that something was wrong with American education thanks to the Kanawha County textbook battle.

This book is quite an eye opener. I highly recommend it! Mr. Priest loves children and spent 34 years educating students in the public schools. He is an "insider." He knows the ropes. He knows the way the schools operate. This book represents first hand knowledge; not hearsay, not book knowledge. Mr. Priest was a major player in the "Tea Party." If you are interested in the state of public education and the continued textbook wars, you NEED to read this book.

Karl Priest was in the textbook battle from the beginning and still is on the front lines. He does not give the secondhand accounts found in the biased media. No, he gives the lowdown from having been in the thick of the conflicts, conflicts that proved that the protesters had the welfare of the students foremost. The politicians on the Board of Education, with the exception of Alice Moore, did not care that the textbooks they were defending were harming the students, and in some cases the harm was certain and measurable physiological harm. The totalitarian forces had the political power and they used it to censor and malign the protesters. The losers were the students, but their advocates, the protesters have not given up.

Bravo Karl Priest and the protesters!

Priest very carefully records board meeting after board meeting, protest after protest, especially the cruel, oppressive measures taken by the school personnel, pseudo-Christian ministers, local police and sheriffs deputies, local judges - even the IRS that harassed, slandered, threatened, arrested and in every way possible attempted to ruin the lives of those who dared questioned the authority of government school officials.

About the author:

Karl C. Priest grew up in Charleston, West Virginia. After service with the Navy, he obtained a teaching degree and a master's degree in education administration. He taught for over 34 years (including being a principal) in West Virginia public schools. After retirement he became the West Virginia State Coordinator for Exodus Mandate and encourages parents to homeschool or use K-12 Christian schools. Also, Karl has an active ministry using insects to proclaim the wonders of God's creation. (www.insectman.us)


Read an interview of Karl C. Priest.





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