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April 11, 1974
Board of Education votes unanimously to purchase 325 new textbooks. Following meeting Alice Moore raises first objection to the books. -
June 2, 1974
Parents, teachers, and community members opposed to the books begin to organize protests -
June 27, 1974
Approximately 1,000 people attend BOE meeting in an attempt to prevent the purchase of books. -
August 1974
Throughout the month of August different groups form to protest the books and those that support them -
Period: to
August 1974
Throughout the month of August different groups form to protest the books and those that support them -
September 3, 1974
First day of school. Almost 25% of the student population is reported as absent. Close to 2,000 people attend an anti-textbook rally in Campbell's Creek. -
September 4, 1974
An estimated 3,500 coal miners begin a wildcat strike to support the anti-book faction. Plants and businesses throughout the county are picketed in the upper Kanawha Valley -
September 5, 1974
A preliminary injunction is issued preventing protesters from disrupting school. -
September 9, 1974
US Marshals arrest three women for being in contempt of the injunction. -
September 10, 1974
Charleston city bus system was shutdown leaving 11,000 customers without public transportation. Governor Arch Moore asks all parties to come to an agreement. -
September 11, 1974
Board Of Education begins to remove books from classrooms awaiting review. -
September 11, 1974
Schools are closed and all activates are cancelled in hopes of calming the citizens down. This did not work -
September 11, 1974
A truck driver for UPS is shot as he attempted to go to work in Rand by a pro-book advocate. Two anti-book protesters are arrested for smashing windshields. -
September 16, 1974
Schools are reopened -
September 17, 1974
Ezra Graley leads 500 protesters to the Board Of Education offices and the State Capitol. A lawsuit is filed to prevent the use of the books in federal court. -
September 18, 1974
Eleven men are arrested for picketing in violation of Judge Goad's injunction. Among those arrested are the Reverends Graley and Quigley. -
September 18, 1974
School attendance rises to 90% in the county. -
September 21, 1974
Five hundred protesters meet at Watt Powell Park to decide their next move. Horan and Hill favor a return to work and Graley favors the boycott to continue. Nothing is decided, the boycott and protests continue, -
September 23, 1974
During a rally Graley and Quigley push for the boycott to continue. -
September 25, 1974
A group of 18 people were impaneled, coming to be known as the Citizens Review Committee, to review the books and return with recommendations. -
October 8, 1974
After being arrested with 17 other protesters the day before, Graley is sentenced to sixty days and fined $1,500; three of the women arrested with him are sentence to thirty days and fined $500. -
October 9, 1974
Wet Branch Elementary and Midway Elementary are damaged in separate explosions. -
October 9, 1974
Six of the eighteen members of the Citizens Review Committee break from the main group over disagreement about the texts. -
October 10, 1974
President Albert Anson resigns from school board -
October 11, 1974
Chandler Elementary is damaged by Molotov cocktails -
October 12, 1974
A car belonging to one of the three women arrested on October 7th is set on fire. -
October 14, 1974
Loudendale Elementary is firebombed. -
October 18, 1974
A school bus with no children on board is shot at five times as it began its morning run. No one was injured -
October 21, 1974
Attendance is the lowest since the beginning of the school year -
October 22, 1974
Midway Elementary is damaged by dynamite. -
October 26, 1974
Textbook supporters stage a march through downtown Charleston. -
October 28, 1974
Approximately 4,000 anti-textbook marchers travel from the Charleston Civic Center to the Capitol. -
October 30, 1974
An estimated fifteen sticks of dynamic exploded outside the Board Of Education office after the regular scheduled meeting. -
November 11, 1974
Following the Board Of Education's decision to return most of the books to the classroom, about 2,000 protesters rallied in Charleston in hopes of changing the decision. -
November 12, 1974
School buses are reportedly shot by shotguns. -
December 12, 1974
A brief melee erupts at the end of the regular business meeting of the Board Of Education. Five school officials are assaulted. -
January 18, 1975
Horan is indicted along with five others by a federal grand jury on conspiracy charges in relation to explosions at area schools. This effectively ends organized protest of the textbooks. -
May 18, 1975
Horan is sentenced to three years following his conviction on conspiracy charges for his part in the bombing of Midway Elementary.