Student At Center of Classic Released Time Case Reminisces

Last week marked the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in McCollum vs. Board of Education which struck down a released time program for religious education in the Champaign, Illinois public schools. Today's Tennessean reports on a talk given Sunday by 70-year old James McCollum, the student who was at the center of the 1948 case. He describes how, even though he was excused from the classes offered by local ministers at the request of his family, he "was put in a desk in the hall during the religion class which was generally reserved for miscreants." He added, "When my mother heard about that, it hit the fan."