RECOLLECTIONS OF WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION V. BARNETTE*

St. John's Law Review, Fall 2007 by Peterson, Gregory L, Prettyman, E Barrett Jr, Peters, Shawn Francis, Boskey, Bennett, Edmonds, Gathie Barnett, Snodgrass, Marie Barnett, Barrett, John Q

Edmonds: Not really. He was just a faithful Witness and he believed in the Bible and what it taught, but he really wasn't a crusader. He was just a teacher, a Witness.

Moderator: Let me turn to your schooling. You are not twins, but I believe your schooling began around the same point in time. Tell me about that and the school that you began to attend.

Snodgrass: Well, I started at an early age of five. Gathie didn't start until she was seven, because of circumstances at home. We first attended a little two-room school in the country and then we moved closer into town. The year that the flag salute came up we were going to another school closer in to Charleston. Of course the weather, you knowWe lived in the country, and so we moved in closer to town so that Dad could get to work easier and all the things that offered.

Moderator: What was the name of the school?

Edmonds: Slip Hill Grade School.

Moderator: It ran from the first grade up to what level?

Snodgrass: Sixth grade, I believe.

Moderator: How many students were in the building?

Snodgrass: It had four rooms, I think. Four rooms

Moderator So you went from a small school to this big school

Snodgrass: Yes.

Moderator: -Slip Hill with all of four rooms. What is your memory of how many kids were in a room?

Snodgrass: Oh, probably about the average it is even todayabout twenty-five.

Moderator: Was there an American flag in the classroom?

Edmonds: At first there was just a picture of the flag on the wall, until the War started. Then they put up a real flag.

Moderator: Had your parents alerted you to this issue of flag salute as you were beginning your school years?

Edmonds: Well, they just taught us the purpose of our faith, which is to give our devotion and worship to Jehovah God, not to any image of any sort, and we were taught that the bowing down to the flag, saluting it, was like a bowing down and giving reverence to it-it was like an idol. So we believe definitely not to worship idols.

Snodgrass: And of course they were aware of what was going on in the world and aware of the other things that happened, so I shouldn't say I recall them telling us, but I'm sure they talked to us about what might happen and what our reaction should be to it. And showed us the Bible approves of what we believed in and what we should say.

Moderator: Okay. Now you were a precocious early reader, but I suppose you weren't reading about the Gobitis case?

Snodgrass: No.

Moderator: You didn't know this was swirling around?

Edmonds: No. Not at that age.

Moderator: Bennett Boskey, you were a school boy and working your way up through school. Do you remember flags in your classrooms in New York City?

Boskey: Not really, but they may well have been there-it was long before this.

Moderator: That's true. Perhaps flags were in your law school classroom? Or maybe not.

Boskey: Not a bit.

Moderator: Now, Gathie, you said the flag appeared once the War started. For the United States, that is December 1941. How did the trouble begin in the winter of early 1942?