Note 323 — Chapter IV · The Effect of the World War on Laws for Teaching History

Among the states which have Americanization laws that have no specific statement prescribing the teaching of American citizenship are Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia. Most of these laws were enacted in 1919, some prescribing the establishment of classes for uneducated adults, others specifying Americanization courses. In North Carolina, there is a law to remove illiteracy, and in New Mexico the schools are to give “nocturnal courses of instruction.” These laws are not discussed because they do not provide for the teaching of citizenship. One of the earliest evening schools was in Massachusetts, 1886, where United States history was one of the prescribed subjects. Supplement to Public Statutes of Massachusetts, 1882-1888, ch. 174, p. 117, “An Act for the Establishment and Maintenance of Evening Schools.”