Evening star., 1960-04-24
TEXTBOOKS
Continued From First Page


They believed that the Day
of Jubilee had arrived and
that the plantations of their
former masters were to be di-
vided among them as a Christ
mas gift. Every Negro would
receive 40 acres and a mule"
. A whole series of foreign |
relations pamphlets, specially |
developed by the North Gen.
trail Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools failed to get
approval here some three years
ago because one pamphlet, en-
titled, THE Chinese Dilemma"
contained this one sentence
which could be construed as
indicating a soft" attitude on
Chinese Reds:
THE Communists, on the
other hand, won the approval
of these groups by the manner
in which they governed the
areas under their control"
Although the School Board
must give final approval to all
texts used in the schools, the
real selections are made by the
supervising directors of the
various departments and by the
textbook committees-made up
of teachers and administrators
- for each Of the academic
levels.
Probed by Congress
Not so many years ago this
was one of the TOUGHEST areas
In the operation of District |
schools. 1t could become such |
a hot issue, in fact, that con-
gressional investigations would |
be held.
Traditionally, three subjects
caused most Of the difficulties:
English, music and history. The
publis h ers themselves have
eliminated most of the ques-
tionable material in the Eng
lish and music texts. Only |
history, because of the intrinsic |
nature of the material, still |
presents a problem.
In English, the anthology
has become the standard type
Of text in recent years. And |
the publishers screen their
books so carefully" according |
to Miss Sue Brett, supervising
director of English curriculum,
that we no longer have the
problem so much" The general
policy of the department, she
says, is mot to use any litera-
ture that points out a minor
ity group"
In music, one word "darky"
caused most of the controversy.
1t appears frequently in the
original versions of songs by
Stephen Foster and other
American composers.
Word Causes Dispute
In 1912, this word caused a
major disagreement between
the white and Negro divisions
of the school system, DR..
G. C. Wilkinson, first assistant
superintendent for the Negro
division charged the word was
derogatory to Negroes and
urged that only songbooks with
altered lyrics be authorized for
the system.
Supt. Frank w. Ballou dis
agreed. ANY change in the
songs of Stephen Foster" he
declared at a School Board
meeting, would result in our
using songs that are not
Stephen Fosters"
The Superintendent urged
the board to approve several
books containing original ver-
sions of the songs. The board
did just this, but not before
one member, John H. Wilson,
stated he was proud of my
African and slave background" "
and that altered lyrics would
destroy the truth and his
torical value of the material"
Publishers Change Lyrics
The controversy might still
be continuing today. But in
1858, when Representative
Matthews, Democrat of Flor
ida, charged that school song
books here had altered lyrics, it
developed that those with the
original versions were no long
er available.
AS Paul D. Gable, super
vising director of music, ex-
plains it, "All the publishers
came around and eliminated
the word 'darky.'"
Consequently this line in My
Old Kentucky Home"-"The
time has come when the dark
les have to part"-generally ap-
pears as The time has come
when we all will have to part. :"
And in "Old Folks at Home, :"
the line "Oh, darkies, how my