The Georgia Social Studies Journal
Winter 2015, Volume 5, Number 1, pp. 5-18
Georgia Council for the Social Studies
Examining contemporary anti-German and anti-Catholic perspectives
through the Salzburger narrative in middle level Georgia history
textbooks, 1904-1954.
Scott L. Roberts
Central Michigan University
Charles J. Elfer
Clayton State University
This study presents a review of Georgia history textbooks written from 1904-1954 and examines the
extent to which contemporary issues of the day may have shaped the historical descriptions offered by
the various authors considered. The particular topic under study is the Salzburger community
historically located in Ebenezer and New Ebenezer, Georgia. In the first place, the investigation
attends to the ways in which historical events contemporary to publication influenced portrayals of
the Salzburgers in state history textbooks during the years spanning 1904-1954. Stemming from this
broader inquiry, we worked to identify and account for similarities and divergences within the
Salzburger story over time and to otherwise consider the relationships between early and subsequent
portrayals of the Salzburgers in state-level textbooks. Above all, the study is informed by the
assumption that this type of investigation is valuable not only from a purely historical or academic
standpoint, but that questions surrounding textual bias and historiography more broadly are
important starting points for a classroom practice that is both rigorous and inquiry-based.
History textbooks have long been the target of critique among historians. In something
nearing a pastime, scholars have lambasted textbooks for their frequent misinterpretations of the
past, political biases, herorification of historical figures, lack of sourcing, and the non-critical,
omnipotent aura of history that they often convey (e.g., Alridge, 2006; Afflerbach & VanSledright,
2001; Apple, 2001; Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991; Loewen, 1995; Paxton, 1999). Further concerns
stem from recent debates over newly adopted history standards in large states like that of Texas.
Texas is a populous state with great purchasing power and, consequently, many observers argue
that curriculum policies in the Longhorn State affect national choices indirectly (Associated Press,
2010; McKinley, 2010; Walker, 2015). Suffice it to say, critiques leveled against textbooks are not
entirely academic, but also hold potentially significant implications for teachers and students of
history as well.
A number of studies have examined how textbook portrayals of particular historical eras,
events, or individuals have changed over time. As one might expect, longitudinal treatments such
as these frequently offer insights which serve to situate textbook research within larger historical
contexts, currents, and trends (e.g., Delger, 1964; Duran & Null, 2009; Gilbert, 2003; Harrison, 2002;
Wasburn, 1997). For instance, as Percy (2003) argues,
Social studies textbooks themselves are historical documents for they represent the culture,
the fads, and concerns of the period in which they were published. Texts published 100, 50,
or even 10 years apart often present vastly different historical depictions of various people
and events. (para. 8)
The Georgia Social Studies Journal
With this in mind, as much as textbook analysis reveals about the manner in which historical
perspectives shift over time, such considerations also inform our understandings of the historical
contexts which gave them life initially.
Through their review of textbook treatments of the Texas Revolution, Duran and Null
(2009) provide a recent illustration of the ways in which a longitudinal analysis can highlight
shifting portrayals of historical events. They reviewed five United States history textbooks written
between 1897 and 2003 to determine how depictions of the Texas Revolution changed over a
century. Their study suggests that textbook treatments of that particular event morphed over time,
and, significantly, that those shifts mirrored larger, national, regional, and professional trends and
sentiments. In the earliest text reviewed, The Student’s American History, written in 1897, students
encountered the notion that the United States should not have ceded its claims on Texas and that
Americans from Southern states began moving into Texas for the primary purpose of extending
slavery. For Duran and Null, the perspectives found in the book, which was published in Boston,
reflected a Northeastern “abolitionist” sentiment and wounds incurred during the American Civil
War. A second book, Beginner’s History of the United States, written in 1927, focused on themes such
as Manifest Destiny, heroic figures like Sam Houston, and a flattering comparison of the Texas and
American Revolutions. Duran and Null reason that these changes in the depictions of the Texas
Revolution were influenced partially by the work of historian Stephen Stagner, who describes the
writing of history in the 1920’s as “romantic art” which highlighted heroes and their exploits. More
importantly, Duran and Null link the changes that they detected to the impact that Fredrick Jackson
Turner’s frontier thesis had on the psyche of the American public about a vanishing frontier and
manifest destiny (Duran & Null, 2009, p. 313-318).
A similarly useful example is illustrated by Casey Harrison, whose textbook study examined
the portrayal of the French Revolution in 19th and 20th century American schools. Thorough his
historiographical appraisal, Harrison argued that 19th century textbooks handled the French
Revolution in such a way that portrayed the event in a negative fashion, often focusing heavily on
the successes and failures of individual figures. Accounting for cotemporary influences, he
underscored the role of 19th century moral instruction in the United States, as well as negative
stereotypes of the French that intensified as the traditionally Catholic French were compared to the
English Protestants (Harrison, 2002, pp. 147-149). By the 20th century, textbook portrayals of the
French Revolution shifted in some measure from a focus on the failures of individuals to intellectual
developments such as republicanism and universalism. Harrison concluded that this shift was
based on the growing involvement of the United States in world military affairs, the fact that the
United States was allied with France in both World Wars, and the influence that historian James
Henry Robinson had on the establishment of an “impartial” approach to studying the French
Revolution (2002, pp. 150-152). Again, as with Duran and Null, Harrison’s work demonstrated
both the shifting nature of textbook treatments over time and the connection between
contemporary intellectual and political moods in shaping those interpretations.
Analysis of Georgia History Textbooks
Georgia, like many other states, offers state history courses to public school students at the
middle grades level. Since 1884, public schools have required that students study Georgia history,
in various capacities, between grades four and eight. Since 1985, every eighth grade public school
student in Georgia has been required, by law, to enroll in a course referred to as Georgia Studies, a
social studies course which considers the state’s economy, history, geography, and political
structures (Percy, 2007; O.C.G.A. sec 20-2-142). With several noteworthy exceptions, few scholars
have analyzed state history course content in Georgia (e.g., Percy, 2007; Roberts, 2011; Roberts,
2013; Terry, 1983). We briefly consider those exceptions below.
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Roberts, S.L., & Elfer, C.J.
Terry (1983) analyzed a series of Georgia history textbooks from 1917-1982. Through his
searches, Terry hoped to identify whether or not depictions of Reconstruction in Georgia changed
over time as the “traditional” Dunning School narrative receded in favor of “revisionist”
interpretations beginning in the 1950s. Terry found that, in fact, most of the textbooks reviewed
offered the traditional interpretation of Reconstruction; that is, Reconstruction was largely a failure
in the hands of Congressional Republicans. By 1970, however, Georgia history textbooks began to
offer revised perspectives on the era, which Terry linked to the impact of the modern Civil Rights
movement on academic professionals and society in general.
Akin to Terry’s work, Roberts (2011) evaluated portrayals of 20th and 21st century
presidents in Georgia history textbooks from 1951-2005. The study demonstrated that textbooks
written for a state that strongly supported the Democratic Party historically offered significantly
more positive appraisals of Democratic Presidents than for their Republican counterparts. With
regard to the latter, the study evidenced more negative treatments of Republican presidents. As
further indication of that bias, notable Republican presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt were not
mentioned in Georgia history textbooks until the 1960s.
In a second article, Roberts (2013) wrote a self-study that provides readers with an indepth description of his process in co-authoring a Georgia studies textbook. In the article, he
discussed how his theoretical perspective of critical theory impacted how he wrote the text. He also
discussed six goals he developed for writing the textbook based on the critiques of textbook
researchers in the literature, along with a self-evaluation of how well he met those goals.
Recently, Parker (2014) examined four Georgia history textbooks from the late 19th and
20th centuries to show how the “Lost Cause” ideology was reflected differently in each book. Parker
found that in the first book Charles Henry Smith (aka. “Bill Arp”) a former Confederate soldier
reflected the “Lost Cause” and favorable descriptions of slavery in his textbook School History of
Georgia. The second author Lawton B. Evans, who was born during the Civil War. Parker found that
his two textbooks The Students’ History of Georgia and A History of Georgia for Use in School were
nearly as pro-Confederate and pro-slavery as Smith’s. The last book, History of Georgia, written by
Robert Brooks, who was born nearly 20 years after Evans, also claimed that slavers were treated
well by plantation owners in Georgia.
The limited availability of research on Georgia history textbooks represents a gap in the
literature that should concern Georgia historians and history educators. A sizeable portion of the
state’s young learners and future citizens currently study Georgia history in obligatory middle
grades courses and, significantly, they often do so through traditional textbook-based instruction.
More robust scholarly conversation serves the important function of improving and maintaining
the accuracy of the content that young people, and their teachers, encounter. The present study
seeks to engage in this conversation and add to our understanding of Georgia history textbooks
through an examination of state textbooks written between 1904 and 1954. Special consideration is
paid here to those trends and issues which may have shaped and influenced the historical
descriptions reviewed. This study is somewhat novel as the topic under study represents a
longitudinal consideration of an historic Georgia community, specifically the Salzburgers. While
other textbook analyses have focused on historic figures and events, our consideration of a single,
relatively homogenous community is uncommon in the literature. The Salzburger community offers
an interesting case study in the context of textbook biases given the dueling attributes of place of
origin and religious tradition, features which tend to operate as compliment and contradiction in
our state’s history.
The Salzburgers have been portrayed traditionally as a heroic people by historians. But was
this always the case? As national and state textbook analyses have shown, history is often shaped
by the moods and fashions characteristic of particular times and particular places. Relevant to the
Salzburgers in Georgia, for instance, is the period of time spanning the two world wars, an era
which saw a dramatic and negative shift in public opinion about all things German. This includes, of
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course, ideas and concepts used to present the history of Germany and Germans to American public
school students. Coinciding with this anti-German bias, and preceding it by some time, there was a
large and equally palatable bias in the United States against Catholics, a contemporary movement
spearheaded by the large and powerful reincarnation of the Ku Klux Klan.
Historians have engaged in much research on the issue anti-German and anti-Catholic
propaganda during the early to middle 20th century war era. There has been has been far less
inquiry, however, into how these biases may have affected the textbooks that American school
children were required to use. Additionally, studies focused on the supplemental materials
provided to schools by groups such as the National Security League. To our knowledge, research
explicitly exploring how these anti-German and anti-Catholic biases have been included in
contemporary national and state-level history textbooks has not been conducted. With that in mind,
this study will add to the existing literature though a consideration of state history textbooks as
propaganda.
The primary purpose of this study was to determine how contemporary historical events
may have influenced portrayals of the Salzburgers in state history textbooks during the decades
spanning from 1904 to 1954. Subsequent questions addressed (a) how aspects of the Salzburger
story changed or remained the same over time, (b) major divergences in portrayals of the
Salzburgers as a people and as Georgians, and (c) the extent to which treatments in earlier
textbooks influenced authors’ writing of subsequent textbooks. As we initiated the study, we were
interested to better understand how the German, yet Protestant, Salzburgers were portrayed in
Georgia history textbooks during the period under review. And not unrelated to that query, we
wondered whether or not portrayals of this particular group of German immigrants shifted during
the war years as anti-German sentiments grew. Could the fact that the eighteenth century
Salzburgers were the “victims” of a Catholic and authoritative government be the grounds for
textbook writers to portray the community even more positively during the 1920s and 1930s, as
opposed to those textbooks written before and after the two World Wars? Before moving to
discuss anti-German and anti-Catholic beliefs during first half of the 20th century, a traditional
account of the Salzburger story is appropriate as it serves to better frame the analysis.
The Traditional Salzburger Narrative
The Salzburgers, a group of German-speaking Protestants from present-day Austria, began
immigrating to Georgia in 1734. Following the Edict of Expulsion by Catholic Archbishop and Prince
of Salzburg, Count Leopold von Firmian, these settlers endured hardships and a certain measure of
mistreatment in their homeland based upon their faith. Thousands sought refuge in East Prussia,
and many succumbed while undergoing the treacherous journey. A German Pastor, Samuel
Urlsperger, appealed to English King and German Duke George II to provide additional aid to the
religious refugees from Salzburg. Both the Lutheran King George and the Georgia Trustees felt
sympathy for the Salzburgers with whom they shared a Protestant kinship. As the affairs of a young
proprietary colony were administered, Trustees granted the Salzburgers land in Georgia (e.g.,
Barlament, 2006; Jones, 1984; Pyrges, 2000; Scomp, 2002; Strobel, 1855/1953).
When the first group of Salzburgers arrived in the colony of Georgia, on March 12, 1734,
they met with General James Oglethorpe and were provided land some 25 miles north of Savannah.
This settlement was named Ebenezer (“Stone of Help” in Hebrew). Additional ships brought the
Salzburgers, along with other German Protestants, to Ebenezer. Due in part to close proximity to
the Savannah River, however, the original settlement was unsuccessful and at least 30 Salzburgers
died during the first two years of settlement (Strobel, 1855/1953, pp. 60-124). Appealing to
Oglethorpe and the trustees of Georgia, the Salzburgers were allowed to move to a new settlement,
New Ebenezer, where they enjoyed far greater success. The Salzburgers are credited with creating
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Georgia’s first gristmill, Sunday school, and orphanage. At its peak, the community covered 25
square miles and contained around 1,200 members (Barlament, 2006).
The Salzburger community began to decline in the 1750s due to a variety of factors,
including Georgia’s shift to Royal colonial status, the spread of slavery after 1754, and new settlers
from other parts of the British Empire who had no interest in the strictures of a closed and
regulated community. The Salzburger decline continued after the death of Johann Martin Boltzius in
1765, a death which represented the loss of the community’s spiritual and political leader. The
American Revolution proved to be even more devastating to the Salzburgers. New Ebenezer was
occupied by the British and many of the Salzburger homes, as well as their church, were destroyed.
Although the settlement was retaken by American troops in 1782, and was even named Georgia’s
capital city for two weeks, many of the Salzburgers had since fled to other locations, never again to
return, though many of their descendants still live in Effingham and Chatham counties (Barlament,
2006; Jones, 1984; Strobel, 1855/1953).
Historians have tended to depict the Salzburgers in a positive and almost heroic manner.
The Salzburgers have been described as a religiously pious and hardworking community that
suffered many hardships in both their homeland as well as in Georgia. Accompanying this story of
suffering is a narrative of triumph, where the Salzburger community overcomes obstacles to create
one of the most successful colonial settlement stories in early Georgia (e.g., Barlament, 2006;
Coleman, 1976; Coulter, 1945; Jones, 1992; Saye, 1943). According to Barlment (2006), the
Salzburgers were considered to be “model citizens” by the Trustees who valued their “qualities of
piety, modesty, and industriousness.” These qualities “were rooted in the Salzburgers' spiritual
traditions, which emphasized personal conviction and community activities.” And praise from
historians has largely continued. In 1855, for example, P. A. Strobel, claimed that the Salzburgers
should be as highly regarded by historians as the Puritans (1855/1953, p. 23). Over 100 years later,
Coleman (1976) praised the Salzburgers for being hardworking and successful framers (pp. 118120).
Viewed as a heroic group, it should also be noted that many details pertinent to the 18th
century Salzburger story were forgotten or recast by 19th and 20th century historians. One
frequently omitted detail pertains to the Salzburger connection to a German medicalpharmaceutical network in the 18th century. In brief, the Salzburgers established ties to a larger
German pharmaceutical community, in some instances exchanging medications in return for
housing and firewood. One could also reason that the literature represents a flattening of the term
“Protestant.” This merging is significant as Protestantism, generally, and the Lutheran
denomination, specifically, could arguably be viewed as an indication of a campaign critical of the
latter; that is, Lutherans were sometimes deemed by other Protestant denominations in the South
as “too Catholic.” Lastly, an important feature of the Salzburger story that historians have
considered in only a limited way is the hostility and conflict between the Salzburgers and Georgia
Malcontents. While early Georgia Malcontents desired, and eventually were allowed, to hold slaves
in the colony, the Salzburger ideal of liberty and property caused them to be opponents of the
institution. That said, Boltizus struggled with the integration of freed blacks into Ebenezer (e.g.,
Roeber, 1993, 2013; Wilson, 2000).
Anti-German Propaganda during the War Years, 1914-1945
Along with investing episodes and examples of anti-German sentiment during the war years
(e.g., the renaming of American cites and other items with German names), historians have
frequently noted changes in the American educational landscape and the biases and propaganda
efforts evident in many of the states and nations affected by the World Wars. This was especially
true in social studies education (Evans, 2004; Halverson, 2012; Saxe, 1991). Little work is available,
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however, where we consider the means by which this propaganda was transmitted to American
public school students, where the role of textbooks represents but one mode of transmission.
Hamlin’s Educators Present Arms: The Use of the Schools and Colleges as Agents of War
Propaganda: 1914-1918 represents a useful counterexample to this general trend. Hamlin
described, in some detail, the sorts of propaganda techniques used in American schools during
World War I. One technique was to embed an anti-German slant on historical events. A rather
obscure example, S. Standwood Menken, president of the National Security League, informed
teachers that the British should not be blamed for the Revolutionary War. Instead, he suggested
blame should be placed solely upon the Germanic King of England, George III (Hamlin, 1939, p. 9).
Hamlin also illustrated how publishing houses during the war years “were quick to bring out
material for sale commercializing war emotions.” Textbook publishers such as George H. Doran &
Company sent out a study by Charles Altschul to all of the schools that used their American history
textbook. Altschul’s study, “American Revolution in Our Textbooks,” presented a position similar to
Menken’s concerning the American Revolution and declared that information about the
Revolutionary war in older textbooks showed great injustices to the British and should be
abandoned based on their role as allies against Germany (Hamlin, 1939, p. 29).
In addition to high school-level tests, Hamlin (1939) also discussed elementary school
history textbooks and indicated that new texts were written “at the suggestion of the propaganda
authorities of the national government.” In describing one of these elementary textbooks he wrote:
For example, ‘A School History of the Great War’…was prepared at the suggestion of the
National Board of Historical Service for the seventh and eighth grades with a view to
‘developing a national comprehension of the issues involved in the war.’ It told in language
for the children ‘why Germany wanted war’ and her wicked propaganda. (p.30)
A rather blatant expression, readers find here a negative view of the Germans as aggressors and
aggravators.
Along with textbooks, a large number of supplemental materials were also provided to the
nation’s public schools, much of which was produced and distributed by the National Security
League to support the war effort against Germany. An Appeal to the Patriotism of School Principals in
the United States in Response to President Wilson’s Letter (1916) and Wake up Teachers in America
(1917) serve as two illustrations. Supplemental materials like these shared the theme of educating
the nation’s student-aged population on war issues and both pamphlets also described ways in
which teachers could promote patriotism and citizenship. An Appeal to the Patriotism of School
Principals in the United States in Response to President Wilson’s Letter described how teachers
could promote Wilson’s idea for “Flag Day.” One area of focus addressed the ways in which teachers
could help students of foreign-born parents participate in Flag Day activities. Strategies included
the writing of letters in the language of the parents, encouraging students to write letters of
invitation to their parents, and, somewhat contrary to the anti-Catholic bias displayed during the
time period, calling upon Catholic priests to relay the Flag Day message to parents (National
Security League, 1916; Leighton, 1917).
Wake up Teachers in America was a direct call to public school teachers and an appeal to
help children understand the importance of citizenship. Students were to “live for one’s country as
well as being willing to die for it.” The pamphlet attempted to persuade teachers that citizenship
needed to be taught in the schools and that the best way to do this was through the teaching of
history. One of Leighton’s recommendations was for teachers to support the draft by explaining to
students how appalling war was for the country, as well as for the common soldier, during the
American Revolution and the Civil War before conscription was enacted. Another recommendation
advised teachers to incorporate Wilson’s War Message and Flag Day speech with the same
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sentiment and enthusiasm that they used to teach Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address (Leighton,
1917, pp. 4-5).
Propaganda efforts related to education prior to World War I were less pronounced in
Georgia than in other states and regions of the nation. According to Ready (1968), Georgians did not
seem to “flock to the colors, nor were they in unison as to how to enter the war.” Like all Americans,
Georgians eventually did take part in the war effort and did ultimately “join forces with the great
democracies of the world to put down the last great military autocracy in Europe” (p. 262). This
apparent delay in nationalism and anti-German sentiment in Georgia may have spared the
Salzburgers the negative historic alteration that was given to all other things German during the
time.
Anti-Catholic Bias during the War Years
During the war years there was also an intense and bitter battle between Nativist
Protestants and Catholics about the educational content in the public schools. Many recent
immigrants to America were of the Catholic faith, but were often educated in the public schools of
conservative and nationalist Protestants, some of whom identified an opportunity to force their
values upon Catholic children through a mandated curriculum. Throughout the nation, efforts
spearheaded by both progressive educators and the political elite, not to mention the reincarnation
of the Ku Klux Klan, advocated for reform and the need to address the “ills of society” through the
improvement, read “Americanization,” of public schools across the country. In short, educational
reform during the war years implied, and sometimes explicitly contained, anti-Catholic and antiimmigration elements (Latts, 2012; Slawson, 2014). Compounding the matter, the Ku Klux Klan
worked to build on this momentum and further engaged in a sort of “cultural warfare on behalf of
white, native-born Protestant public schools” (Latts, 2012, p. 329).
Historians have written extensively about the impact the second Ku Klux Klan had on the
citizens of Georgia. MacLean (1995), for example, described the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, their antiCatholic views, and the political power that they held at the local and state level during the 1920s
and 1930s. MacLean claimed that the Klan used a longstanding sociocultural tradition of antiCatholicism and adapted it to their purposes. Anti-Catholicism, though perhaps repackaged, was
deeply ingrained in the psyche of Georgia citizens and predated the Ku Klux Klan.
With a focus on the impact that the Ku Klux Klan had on local education, Racine (1973),
described how powerful the organization had become in terms of promoting an anti-Catholic
curriculum in Georgia’s schools. Amazingly, three members of the Ku Klux Klan were serving on
Atlanta’s school board at the time and began an anti-Catholic campaign targeting Catholic teachers,
principals, and, of course, textbook adoptions. Anti-Catholic proponents were concerned about
textbooks showing a “liberal attitude toward Catholics.” Racine described one incident involving
the adoption of an early European history textbook. While the city did ultimately adopt the
textbook, it was evident that anti-Catholic instigators made their beliefs a public issue for debate
during this time period. He explained:
…the anti-Catholics attacked textbooks alleged to have a Catholic bias. In June, 1925, Mrs.
Nelson objected to the adoption of a textbook…because it was ‘a dreadful waste of time to
dwell at such length upon trivial happenings of pagan history’ and because the book was
‘filled with Catholic propaganda and grossly unfair to Protestants. (p. 72)
Although Salzburger origins were German, they were also Protestant. Traditionally,
historians have tended to cast this particular group of Protestants as victims. The Salzburgers were
forced from their homes by what was considered to be a tyrannical Catholic leadership. Alongside
anti-German propaganda, there was also a mass anti-Catholic movement in the United States, one
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fueled heavily by the politically powerful Ku Klux Klan. This atmosphere may also have affected
portrayals of the Salzburgers in the textbooks we studied. Although German, their anti-Catholic
stand may actually have placed them in a better historical light given the circumstances of the time.
Georgia History Textbooks and Their Perceptions of the Salzburgers
We modeled our investigation of the Salzburgers on the previous work of Duran and Null
(2009). Like Duran and Null, we conducted an analysis of the five Georgia history textbooks used in
the state’s schools from 1904-1954. We worked to compare the Salzburger narrative to events and
developments contemporary to the era in which each text was produced. In particular, the study
was informed by primary and secondary source depictions of anti-Catholic and anti-German
sentiments that were prevalent in the South and throughout much of the country. We also sought to
account for changes detected in depictions of the Catholic Church, Prince Leopold, and the
identification of the Salzburger homeland (Austria vs. Germany), and the treatment of the
Salzburgers in a majority Catholic region in their home area historically. Inter-rate reliability was
improved in the analysis as both authors independently reviewed the selected passages, recorded
any evidence of change in depictions over time, and discussed findings before developing formal
conclusions.
The first two texts reviewed were written by Lawton B. Evans, University of Georgia
alumnus and past Superintendent of Augusta Public Schools. The first of Evans’ books was History
of Georgia for Use in Schools (1904), a middle grades text published approximately 13 years before
America’s entry into World War I. We considered this textbook for the purpose of gauging how
textbook writers portrayed the Salzburgers before the rise of anti-German and anti-Catholic
propaganda used by the second Ku Klux Klan. We found this account of the Salzburgers to be
relatively straightforward. Evans wrote:
Eight months afterward a ship arrived at Savannah bringing a band of Salzburgers, who had
been cast out of Germany on account of their religion. They were warmly welcomed by the
colonists. Finding a place that suited them, they settled on the banks of a small creek
flowing into the Savannah River, twenty-five miles above the city. The named their town
Ebenezer, which means “stone of help.” That place is now Effingham County. (p. 21)
Evans discussed the Salzburgers in more detail, but with equal sobriety, on the next page:
During the years from 1729-1732 nearly thirty thousand German Salzburgers were driven
from their homes by the persecutions of Leopold on account of religious belief. Some of
these wanderers engaged the sympathies of the Trustees, who offered homes to them in the
colony of Georgia. Forty-two families agreed to come, Baron von Reck leading them. They
left Dover December, 1733, and reached Charleston in March 1734. Oglethorpe happened to
be there at the time and welcomed them. They desired to settle somewhere, at a distance
from the sea, in a hilly country where there were springs of water. They selected a spot
forty miles from the ocean, where they could rest and worship God according to the ways
approved by their own conscience. (p. 22)
Evans’ next book, First Lessons in Georgia History, written in 1913, described the
Salzburgers in greater detail. Arguably a reflection of the times, some will find an increasingly
pronounced anti-Catholic bias in his description, as he spent much more time depicting the harsh
events that led to the Salzburger emigration from Germany. A more positive portrayal of the
Salzburger community was evident as well and Evans specifically stated that Salzburg was actually
in Austria and not Germany. He wrote:
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Salzburg is a city and district now in the western part of Austria; but in the time of our
colonial period the district was one of the small states of the old German Empire. Here lived
the Salzburgers, a poor, hard-working, simple peasant people, many of whom belonged to
the Lutheran Church. The ruler of Salzburg was prince of the Roman Catholic Church, and
the Protestant religion was not allowed anywhere within its borders. … In 1729 Leopold
became lord of the district, and began to persecute the Protestant Salzburgers. Their houses
were entered and their Bibles and hymn books were burned in the streets. Their leading
men were arrested (and were told) that they must abandon the Protestant religion. ‘This we
will not do,’ firmly answered the men…They were industrious, law-abiding, and peaceable.
Their descendants may be found today in many parts of Georgia, among the most
substantial citizens of the State. (pp. 50-53)
Compared to the neutral depiction in the first book reviewed, the detail committed to the telling of
the all of the harsh actions of the Catholics enhances the appearance of bias.
Jennie Akers Bloodworth’s, Getting Acquainted with Georgia, published in 1926, was the
next book analyzed in the study. Written for elementary-aged students, this book told the story of
two students who moved to Georgia from New York. In a series of adventures, the students learned
about the history, geography, and economy of Georgia. Compared to Evan’s second book,
Bloodworth’s account was distinctly different as she briefly mentioned the Salzburgers, and there
was no specific mention of either Austria or Germany. In addition, the anti-Catholic biases
portrayed by Evans were not apparent and neither the words “Catholic” nor “Leopold” were
incorporated. Also absent was a detailed account of Salzburger persecution in their homeland.
Describing the Salzburgers, Bloodworth wrote, “The Salzburgers and Moravians, driven from their
homes in Europe on account of religious persecution, sought refuge in Georgia” (p. 220). In
comparing the several texts, we encountered notable variations in terminology referencing
religious affiliation and place of origin; variations which we believe represented biases, however
subtle those may have been.
During the Second World War, a group of Georgia educators and historians called the
Science Research Associates, headed by Edward S. Sell, wrote The Story of Georgia: A School History
of Our State. Sell and company noted of the Salzburgers, “They were Protestants from southern
Germany, driven from their homes by the persecution of Catholics. Thirty thousand of these modest
folk had fled from their native land to escape murder and imprisonment because of their religion…”
(p. 109). It seems that the Sell’s text made three changes to the description of the Salzburgers found
in Evans’ and Bloodworth’s books. First, while this book was written after the peak of anti-Catholic
feelings in the South, the word “murder” was used for the first time to describe actions taken by
Catholics toward Protestants. Second, a combination of terms occurs whereby the larger faith of
Protestantism and the Lutheran domination are merged into one, thus flattening any distinctions
that might otherwise be made between Protestant denominations, and, arguably, heightening
contrasts between Catholics and Protestants. Third, the Salzburgers were described as Germanspeaking rather than Austrian, even though the United States was at war with Germany when the
book was published.
The next book reviewed for the study was written six years after the end of World War II.
Empire Builders of Georgia, authored by three public school teachers, Ruth Suddeth, Isa Osterhout,
and George Hutcheson, and was published in 1951. Here, the Salzburgers were given extremely
high praise. Once again, they were described as German and not Austrian. Furthermore, and
contrary to Sell et al.’s book, while religious persecution was mentioned, Catholicism was not, nor
was any mention made of Catholics “murdering” the Salzburgers. In recounting the Salzburgers, the
authors wrote:
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Another valued addition to the Georgia colony was the first band of persecuted Protestants
from the Continent, a small group of Salzburgers … Industrious and thrifty, the Salzburgers
led all the colonists in the production of silk…These German farmers at Ebenezer were
among the first Georgians to cultivate rice and cotton. As early as 1738 the Salzburgers felt
encouraged by their experiments with growing cotton, but they were urged by the Trustees
to concentrate on silk. They were among the first to develop the lumber industry in Georgia.
Within five years after settling Georgia, they had bumper crops of peaches…Reverend John
Bolzius established a small home for orphans at Ebenezer…classes in religious instruction
were held much like those conducted by John Wesley in Savannah…Because of a difference
in the language the Germans at first preferred to live in separate settlements in which the
church was the center…Gradually they were absorbed into the general population. With
their high moral ideals and thrifty habits, the Salzburgers gave strength to the young colony.
(pp. 63-64)
Written almost a decade after the end of World War II, the final text evaluated was History
of Georgia (1954) authored by E. Merton Coulter, Albert Barry Saye, and Spenser B. King, three of
the most well-known and respected Georgia historians of the time. Coulter, a professor of history at
the University of Georgia, was known as the “Historian of the South” and wrote several well-known
and influential, though racially prejudiced, histories of Georgia (Bailey, 2003). Albert B. Saye, a
professor of political science at the University of Georgia, wrote three additional Georgia history
textbooks from 1957-1982. Spenser King was a professor of history and department head of history
and political science at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. In their narrative about the
Salzburgers, Coulter and company stated the following:
The most people of any one group who settled in Georgia were the Salzburgers. Their home
was in Southern Germany. At that time many people were against the Catholic Church… For
many years the Catholics of Salzburg had done everything to make life unhappy for the
Lutherans, and the Protestant Salzburgers were unhappy in Europe. They were very deeply
religious, hardworking, and minded their own business, and would make good settlers in
the new land… Of course, they spoke German, and other settlers in Savannah spoke English.
Their dress and ways of living were different from the English. Besides they wanted to stay
together and be by themselves as a church group. (p.51)
Though probably the most well-known Georgia historians of the time, their descriptions of the
Salzburgers did not vary greatly from that of the other textbook authors. We did detect slightly less
praise for Salzburger accomplishments, less evidence of anti-Catholic bias as compared to Evans
and Sell, and a greater focus on the Salzburgers’ self-imposed segregation from the rest of the
colony. This depiction of Salzburger separation from the rest of the colony mirrored the authors'
own segregationist beliefs. Unlike Suddeth et al.’s book, the fact that the Salzburgers became a part
of the larger community was not mentioned.
Conclusions
Our examination of Georgia history textbooks and portrayals of the colonial Salzburgers
revealed mixed results. While the historical literature supports the suggestion that there might be
strong anti-German sentiments, propaganda, and bias in school texts written during the first and
second World Wars, our analysis of depictions of the Salzburgers in Georgia history textbooks from
1904-1954 suggests otherwise. Of the textbooks analyzed, the Evans text published in 1913 was the
only illustration to contend that the Salzburgers were actually from Austria. Considering that it was
written four years before the United States entered WWI, it would be difficult to link this
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Roberts, S.L., & Elfer, C.J.
perspective to an anti-German bias. It should be noted also that Sell’s Georgia history textbook,
written during World War II, continued to identify the Salzburgers as German.
Although evidence supporting the presence of an anti-German bias was largely inconclusive,
the study does identify what appeared to be an anti-Catholic bias in several of the Georgia history
texts published during the period under study. This bias seemed evident in the way in which the
majority of the texts praised the Salzburgers as victims to Catholic oppression. This was not always
the case, however, as Getting Acquainted with Georgia was the only textbook considered in this
study written during the peak of the anti-Catholic movement in the South in the 1920s. Contrary to
what we might have expected to find, the text did not mention the word “Catholic” at all. By contrast,
The Story of Georgia: A School History of Our State, written in 1942, was the only textbook to claim
that Catholics “murdered” protestants in Salzburg, the most striking evidence of bias detected in the
study. In the end, additional analysis is needed to verify the severity of the anti-Catholic biases
displayed in Georgia’s public schools and whether these perceptions were transmitted to students
through the study of the Salzburgers or not.
It may be the case that the small number of available sources, not to mention the
Salzburgers as topic of study, are of limited use as measures of anti-Catholic and anti-German bias
in Georgia historically, at least as far as the available documentary evidence suggests. We found
little evidence to support the notion that either historians or the authors of Georgia history
textbooks molded the Salzburger story to manifest biases against Catholics or Germans during the
World War era. But neither is the question settled and further study is needed to determine what
precisely the depictions of the Salzburgers were during war time. Among other sources, teacher
lesson plans, supplemental materials, newspaper articles, and school board minutes would be
incredibly useful to that end. Additionally, future endeavors might broaden the scope of this study
by analyzing the state history textbooks from other regions of the country written during the same
time period. Research agendas focusing on states that experienced large influxes of German and
Catholic immigrants could certainly add to our understanding of how widespread anti-German
and/or anti-Catholic propaganda was in our nation’s school books during the early 1900s.
It is worthy of note that not finding determinable evidence of bias in a textbook analysis is
somewhat unique. As Rahima Wade lamented in her 1993 study of social studies textbook analyses,
“Almost every researcher finds the topic chosen for study has not been given adequate attention or
is presented in a biased, stereotypical or otherwise inaccurate manner” (p. 248). In our case, by
contrast, we developed research questions based upon our knowledge of the contemporary
historical climate and sought to determine whether these broader trends were reflected in
textbooks issued at a particular point in history, and, importantly, through particular topics of study.
Although we did not find evidence of out-right, or intentional, bias in the texts examined, we do not
believe that this feature diminishes the study. In fact, it may be the case that the nullified hypothesis
appears far too infrequently in far too many academic conversations.
We contend that the study of textbooks and a developing awareness of historiography are
critically important in the pursuit of enhancing overall understandings of contemporary and
historical issues in school settings. As teacher educators, and in partnership with our school and
university colleagues, we are collaboratively seeking ways to share these ideas with K-12 students
as key elements in an inquiry-based instructional practice. We are hopeful that lessons and
strategies incorporating these types of analyses will offer students new opportunities for
deliberation and deepen historical thinking, not to mention literacy more broadly. We believe that
teachers of Georgia history may find utility in the excerpts we examined in this study when teaching
about early 20th century Georgia. The presentation of Georgia history topics such as the Leo Frank
Case, the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan, or even aspects of the Civil Rights Movement using the
excerpts from the Melton, Saye, and King text, could be greatly enhanced by allowing students to
read historical textbook depictions of the Salzburgers written during the same time period and
encourage them to think about how contemporary ideas and beliefs may be evident in the writing
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of history. In sum, textbook analysis at a variety of levels holds value for both historians and
students of history.
Authors and editors of historical texts sometimes mold individuals, groups, and events to
support the societal views of their time, and oftentimes unknowingly. As the work of Duran and
Null, Loewen, Harrison, and Terry have demonstrated, history textbooks are historical documents,
primary sources that can be utilized by historians and students of history as partial reflections of
the historical eras from which they originate. Longitudinal studies about specific historical topics,
where the Georgia Salzburgers serve as one example, offer evidence of shifting ideas and beliefs in
historical thought and popular culture and can be useful in our collective study of the past.
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About the Authors
Scott L. Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Social Studies Education at Central
Michigan University. His research interests include state history, textbook analysis, instructional
technology, building literacy through social studies, and teacher education. He can be reached at
[email protected].
Charles J. Elfer is an Assistant Professor of History Education at Clayton State University. His
primary research interests include place-based education and curriculum history. He can be
reached at [email protected].
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