I was doing research on a certain topic this afternoon at the State Library, and ran across a Jehovah's Witness related article that I would like to share. It's from "Citrus, Sawmills, Critters, Crackers: Life in Early Lutz and Central Pasco County" by Elizabeth Ruiegler MacManus and Susan A. MacManus (Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 1998), pages 351-353
Lutz is located near Tarpon Springs, Florida. The heading of this article is :"Importance of Schooling."
"Godfrey 'Fred' Bleich, a Jehovah's Witness, lived near Lutz School, but his children could not attend it for several years. Their relgiion forbade the children from saluting the flag, and for that failure, they were sent home in the Fall of 1940. It took a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1943 to get them back into public school.
"Equally remarkable was the number of children he sent to school. He fathered 12 children by his first wife. After her death, he remarried and fathered six more children! But Bleich, a farmer, made lasting contributions to the community, including the founding of the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on his farm.
"The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on Bleich's property served as a school building for the expelled Witnesses. The same building had a room on the back that served as living quarters for the teacher, Adell Grunewald. She taught for one or two semesters, before Mary Macmillan replaced her. Macmillan was married to A.H. Macmillan, a director of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. He came from New York for regular visits with his wife. Rhea Bleich Grantham provided meals for Mary Macmillan."
On page 352 is a picture of the small building that served as a Kingdom Hall and school house in the 1940s. On page 353 is a picture of the Lutz Kingdom Hall built on Crenshaw Lake Road in the 1950s, with George W. Brant as "minister." Also, on page 353 is a photo of Godfrey Bleich and his 18 children, taken circa 1940s.
Several years ago I compiled for the State Library a synopsis of all Florida related materials in the correspondence of the American Civil Liberties Union. I conducted a search of all materials relating to the Flag Salute Cases in Florida. The first two cases in Florida came in 1936 and involved the expulsion of Jamie Kelley, seven year old son of Mrs. Susie E. Kelley of Tampa and Clyde Stansfield, 12 year old son of Mrs. Evie Stansfield of Jacksonville. There is interesting correspondence between Olin Moyle, the Watchtower Society's attorney and the A.C.L.U. Another case, involves the one mentioned above. The book named above gives an incorrect date for the expulsion of the six Bleich children. It should be 1937. I found an article in the Tampa (Florida) Tribune dated June 9, 1938 with the heading "Judge Holds Pupils Must Salute Flag. Denies Petition To Reinstate Lutz Children." This article states that the six children were expelled from Lutz School in Nov. of 1937. Another article from the June 24, 1938 Tampa Tribune indicates that Bleich was taking the matter to the Florida Supreme Court. Of course, nothing happened until the U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1943 said JWs didn't have to salute. In addition to these three cases, I found 18 pages of correspondence in 1942 between the A.C.L.U., lawyers, Jehovah's Witnesses and school board chairman, centering on the refusal of Jehovah's Witness children to salute the flag at Williston, Highlands City, Wellborn, and Live Oak, Florida. A separate entry involved the expulsion of a Foley, Florida J.W. student.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that numerous JW children were expelled from school in Florida (and nationwide) because of Judge Rutherford's "new light" making flag saluting tantamount to image worship. Equally clear is that members, in some instances, were forced to open their own schools.
An interesting aside is one of the teachers in the Kingdom Hall school at Lutz. Mary Macmillan was the wife of none other than the author of "Faith on the March."
I sometimes wonder why Rutherford overlooked Numbers 2:1, 34 which certainly speaks of distinctive standards or flags or banners used by the Israelite tribal armies, with no fear of breaking the commandment of Ex. 20:4-5. The NWT calls them "signs." See also Ps. 74:4, 9 and Ps. 20:5 and Song of Solomon (Canticles) 6:4