The Oregon School Bill Controversy, 1922-1925

Abstract

FEW PERIODS in American history have exhibited such clear signs of nativism as the 1920's. The meteoric rise of the newly reorganized Ku Klux Klan to popularity, the success of such evangelistic entrepreneurs as Billy Sunday or Aimee Semple McPherson, the unusually bitter antagonism against aliens, particularly those from the Far East-all testify clearly to at least one important facet of New Era America. No section of the country was altogether able to escape some aspect of the false patriotism, religious fundamentalism, or national bigotry which was preached. In BibleBelt states such as Tennessee or Arkansas, for instance, anti-evolution laws were passed to forbid the teaching of Darwinian theory; in others, such as Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas, serious attempts were made to Americanize the schools. Only in Oregon, however, were various political and religious groups able to convince a state's citizenry that the threat of foreign domination was great enough to warrant the abridgement of educational freedom. Under the guise of guaranteeing universal patriotism, Oregonians in November, 1922, approved an initiative proposal that required nearly all children between the ages of eight and sixteen to be educated only by the state.' The closing of all secular and religious private schools could have been the only result. Had it not been for the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters2 which declared the law uncon-