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| Front page headline from February 8, 1958 issue of The State. |
In an earlier post, I said that loyalty oaths weren't used against South Carolina college and universities in the 1950s. In revisiting the conflict between state officials and Benedict College, I found that this isn't quite correct.
After being publicly accused by the Governor of harboring communists at his college, Benedict College President J. A. Bacoats wrote a lengthy response that was published in the newspaper. He said that newly hired faculty were asked, "Are you a member of the Communist Party or a member of any organization listed by the Attorney General as an organization that is subversive and has its purpose the overthrow of the government by violence?" In response to the Governor's concerns, Bacoats said, he would start to require faculty to answer the question with a signed, written statement.
Allen University had similar paperwork. Starting in September 1956, faculty were required to fill out a signed "Data sheet" that included a section that requested information about loyalty to the United States.
This paperwork may have been used to dismiss faulty. Shortly before the conflict with Allen started, Marion Davis' husband Horace left Benedict College, according to the Governor because "his communist connections were revealed." It is possible that Horace Davis left when he refused to sign a loyalty statement: earlier he'd refused to testify before HUAC and a later interview with his son indicated that he'd indeed been a member.
After being publicly accused by the Governor of harboring communists at his college, Benedict College President J. A. Bacoats wrote a lengthy response that was published in the newspaper. He said that newly hired faculty were asked, "Are you a member of the Communist Party or a member of any organization listed by the Attorney General as an organization that is subversive and has its purpose the overthrow of the government by violence?" In response to the Governor's concerns, Bacoats said, he would start to require faculty to answer the question with a signed, written statement.
Allen University had similar paperwork. Starting in September 1956, faculty were required to fill out a signed "Data sheet" that included a section that requested information about loyalty to the United States.
This paperwork may have been used to dismiss faulty. Shortly before the conflict with Allen started, Marion Davis' husband Horace left Benedict College, according to the Governor because "his communist connections were revealed." It is possible that Horace Davis left when he refused to sign a loyalty statement: earlier he'd refused to testify before HUAC and a later interview with his son indicated that he'd indeed been a member.
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