Argument Against Segregation In Public Schools

At the turn of the twentieth century North Carolina’s government fell under the control of the Democrats’ White Supremacy rule. The Jim Crow laws, enacted by North Carolina’s legislature in 1899, formally required segregation in all public facilities and transportation. Disenfranchisement, an attempt to restrict African Americans’ rights to vote, allowed Democrats to apply a poll tax and a literacy test. This combination successfully restricted an enormous portion of African-American voters and poor white Republican supporters from casting a vote. Control over the voting procedures allowed Democrats to easily dominate the polls up until 1970. During this period, citizens fought vigorously to secure the civil rights of which they deemed themselves deserving. North Carolinians sought “Civil Rights” in a plethora of areas including voting rights, academic freedom, labor unions, race, and gender.
First, evolution was not scientifically proven, thus it should not be taught in public schools. Secondly, the majority of the public opposed teaching evolution, so their tax dollars should not have to support paying teachers to do so. Finally, because it is illegal to teach religion in public schools, it should also be illegal to teach irreligion. Poole’s bill was defeated in 1925, and then died completely in 1927. An element of historical theory, the 20/60/20 rule, adequately describes twenty percent of the population was strongly in favor of the Poole bill, twenty percent was strongly opposed, and sixty percent that could be swayed either way. The majority of the sixty percent was ultimately pulled onto the side of those who opposed the bill by the opponents’ platform that the bill could jeopardize the separation of church and state. Preventing passage of the Poole bill signified a triumph in academic freedom in North