{"id":850,"date":"2009-01-06T22:29:26","date_gmt":"2009-01-07T03:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=850"},"modified":"2009-02-28T14:26:49","modified_gmt":"2009-02-28T19:26:49","slug":"floridas-greatest-menace-iv-free-love-and-monkey-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=850","title":{"rendered":"Florida’s Greatest Menace IV: Free love and monkey teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>(This is the\u00c2\u00a0fourth part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series,\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>go here<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Florida Purity League<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 28, passed by the Florida legislature in 1927, directed the formation of a textbook review committee that would investigate claims of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153vulgar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d material found in college textbooks. But a citizen group had already been on the hunt since the previous year. L.A. Tatum, an elder in Tallahassee’s First Baptist Church, had created the Florida Purity League in 1926. The Purity League\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main target was the Florida State College for Women (changed to Florida State University in 1947) and the supposedly heretical books found in its libraries and classrooms.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>The Purity League\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s genesis came about when a disgruntled professor who faced losing his job at the college fed Tatum information about books used by his fellow instructors. The texts were mainly from psychology and sociology courses and the offending passages from the books dealt with touchy subjects like sexuality or were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pro-German\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. But going along with the antievolution fervor of the time, Tatum didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave that concept out of his group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks. To prove just how horrible these books were, one of the quotes he pointed out to the Board of Control \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the entity that oversaw the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s colleges at that time \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153psychoanalysis represents by an extension of the theory of evolution, an application of the principle of evolution to the study of the mind.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Tatum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complaints were heard by the Board of Control over and over again, but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get much traction. The FSCW president, Edward Conradi, defended his school and professors before the Board, saying that no one taught anything contrary to the Bible and that the books currently in use in his school were widely used in colleges throughout the country. But then came the 1927 Senate Concurrent Resolution.<\/p>\n

Locking up books<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senator W.J. Singletary led the legislature\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s investigative committee. He took the same road Tatum was on, challenging psychology and sociology texts, and accusing professors of teaching evolution as fact. The University of Florida was under the gun just like the FSCW. President Albert A. Murphree stood alongside Conradi in defense of their schools. However, Murphree tended to be more conciliatory than Conradi in the beginning. Murphree offered to move all questionable books to a secured area so that only students with special permission and their teachers could access them. Conradi resisted doing so, especially when it came to having to appease the odious Tatum. He eventually followed suit, though.<\/p>\n

This compromise satisfied the legislative committee and its investigation fizzled out over time. Tatum, on the other hand, wanted much more. He wanted the books off campus completely and there needed to be a purging of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dangerous teachers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d too! However, Tatum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s efforts grew more fanatical over time as his actions, such as spreading false rumors and endlessly adding to his list of books to be banned, grew to be an embarrassment. An example of how tiresome he became comes from the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce:<\/p>\n

We are not in sympathy with your propaganda against the Florida State College for Women, Dr. Edward Conradi and the faculty of the college. It is our opinion that your propaganda is distasteful to the vast majority.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Monkey teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>\"\"<\/a>The red-hot antievolution effort of the 1920s cooled off significantly by the end of the decade. It became a minor issue during the 1928 gubernatorial campaign, with three out of the four candidates advocating antievolution. A December 1927 St. Petersburg Times article listed among Sidney Catts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 platform issues \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s have no evolution of man in our schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d A broadside distributed on behalf of Catt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign even said (emphasis in original) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Catts stated that he would make an attempt to eliminate this FREE LOVE and MONKEY TEACHING from the Girls\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 College, which has proven a disgrace to the State of Florida and would prove disgraceful even to African cannibals.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d One rival candidate was John Taylor, the senator who had tried to have the 1927 antievolution bill snuck out of committee and onto the senate floor for approval. But as a sign of the changing times, the only candidate not on the antievolution bandwagon, Doyle Carlton, won the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office.<\/p>\n

Antievolution popped up briefly during the 1929 legislative session when a bill about textbook selection was being considered by the senate. Senator Joseph Scales wanted to amend the bill with a provision that teachers could chose not to use certain textbooks if they promoted evolution \u00e2\u20ac\u0153contrary to Biblical teachings.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Senator Singletary spoke in favor of the bill, saying: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If our children have to be taught things that make us blush to read, it is high time that we incorporate in our laws what this amendment proposes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But the amendment drew a hostile response. Senator Pat Whitaker expressed what most other lawmakers where thinking: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This legislature was pestered during its last session by \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmonkey business\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 which emanated from Hillsborough county. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time that we pass a uniform text book law without confusing it with the evolution issue.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The amendment was shot down and the antievolution movement overall pretty much died with it. An antievolution bill was introduced in the 1933 legislative session, but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it out of a judiciary committee and attracted no significant interest in the media.<\/p>\n

Misunderstood teachers<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>\"\"<\/a>It would take four decades for a significant antievolution movement to reappear. In the meantime, the issue wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t completely forgotten. For instance, a publication called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Brief Guide to The Teaching of Science in the Secondary Schools\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was produced by the Florida Department of Education in 1948. The book was written by science educators from across the state during a workshop. There were six pages devoted to section 12: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Book of Genesis, and Science.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The section introduction stated:<\/p>\n

Many teachers asked the workshop group which prepared this bulletin to include suggestions, if any could be found, for helping the teacher advise with students and parents about the supposed conflict between the teachings of science and the teachings of the Bible. Many teachers have been misunderstood in their communities because of the inability to solve this problem. It is a real problem for many students and parents. The requests for help were urgent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There might not have been any headline-making antievolution activities going on for several years, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious that individual teachers were still dealing with the problem in their classrooms then just as many are now.<\/p>\n

Then in 1971 antievolution, like a slumbering Godzilla, was prodded awake to tear through the Florida education landscape. Yet again legislation was proposed, but this time the newfangled concept of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153creation science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was unleashed on lawmakers. At the same time, creationists attacked at the local level, finding varying levels of success at getting county school boards to consider balancing evolution instruction with creationism. In the next installment of this series we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take a look at the first of many counties to face this dilemma and become swamped in the controversy: Pinellas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This is the\u00c2\u00a0fourth part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series,\u00c2\u00a0go here.) The Florida Purity League Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 28, passed by the Florida legislature in 1927, directed the formation of a textbook review … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-dI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":828,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=828","url_meta":{"origin":850,"position":0},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace: Introduction","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series here at Florida Citizens for Science. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be writing posts over the next few months chronicling the history of the evolution\/creationism controversy as it relates directly to the Sunshine State. Here is a taste of what is to come: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry to dump\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":829,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=829","url_meta":{"origin":850,"position":1},"title":"Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace I: Improper and Subversive","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the first part in the Florida's Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) Our Florida story begins quite appropriately in the hands of one of the most prominent figures in the national evolution\/creationism battle: William Jennings Bryan. The Scopes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Monkey Trial\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Tennessee featured\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=829#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1086,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1086","url_meta":{"origin":850,"position":2},"title":"Workshop: Controversial Issues in the Science Classroom","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Several of us from Florida Citizens for Science will be heading over to Hillsborough County to participate in a Controversial Issues in the Science Classroom workshop next week. The four-day event for science teachers features talks by folks from Hillsborough County Public Schools, the University of South Florida College of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1086#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":835,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=835","url_meta":{"origin":850,"position":3},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace III: Tongue-torturing tactics","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the\u00c2\u00a0third part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) Ascended or descended Leo Stalnaker certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like the idea of dance halls operating on Sundays. When the young man ran for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives in 1926\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=835#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/phoenix_sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1027,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1027","url_meta":{"origin":850,"position":4},"title":"Busy, busy, busy","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry about the lack of posts lately. Been very busy. NCSE's Genie Scott is coming to Florida tonight and Florida Citizens for Science is co-sponsoring her visit. She'll be giving a presentation at a Florida Association of Science Supervisors meeting tomorrow, and I will then give a presentation right after\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1027#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":922,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=922","url_meta":{"origin":850,"position":5},"title":"Florida’s Greatest Menace V: Brainwashing Students","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"(This is the fifth part in the Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Greatest Menace series. For an introduction to the series, go here.) A new leader Waging a battle against the teaching of evolution has but one requirement: a leader with a fire in the belly and time to devote to the cause. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=922#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}