William Louis Poteat
Subtitle: A Leader in the Progressive-Era South (Religion in the South)
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: July 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9780813121550
Subjects: Biography: political; Education; Social issues; United States - 20th Century; 20th century; c 1800 to c 1900; Biology teachers; Baptist Churches; Social Work Education; Religious; Biography & Autobiography; Biography / Autobiography; North Carolina; Biography/Autobiography; USA; Christianity - Baptists; Educators; Regional Subjects - South; Biography; Christianity - Baptist; Social reformers; 1856-1938; College teachers; Poteat, William Louis,
First sentence: The Poteat family began a long relationship with North Carolina in the mid-1760s when John and Ann Miles McComas Poteat, along with her father, apparently moved from Baltimore County, Maryland, to the frontier portion of Orange County, North Carolina, that later became Caswell County.
Description: "William Louis Poteat (1856-1938), the son of a conservative Baptist slaveholder, became one of the most outspoken southern liberals during his lifetime. He was a rarity in the South for openly teaching evolution beginning in the 1880s, and during his tenure as president of Wake Forest College (1905-1927) his advocacy of social Christianity stood in stark contrast to the zeal for practical training that swept through the New South's state universities.".

"Poteat also embodied the struggle with the intellectual compromises that tortured contemporary social critics in the South. Though he took a liberal position on numerous issues, he was a staunch advocate for prohibition and became a strong supporter of eugenics, a position he adopted after following his beliefs in a natural hierarchy and absolute moral order to their ultimate conclusion.".

"Randal Hall's revisionist biography presents a nuanced portrait of Poteat, shedding new light on southern intellectual life, religious development, higher education, and politics in the region during his lifetime."--BOOK JACKET.