RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A grammar school text claiming thousands of African-Americans fought for the south during the Civil War was improperly vetted, Virginia education officials say.
The officials told the Washington Post they intend to contact school districts across the state to caution them against teaching that portion of the fourth grade history textbook.
The book, entitled "Our Virginia: Past and Present," was distributed to the state's elementary schools for the first time last month, the Post reported Wednesday.
Spokesman Charles Pyle of the Virginia Department of Education called the book's assertion about black Confederate soldiers "outside mainstream Civil War scholarship."
"Just because a book is approved doesn't mean the Department of Education endorses every sentence," he said.
The author, Joy Masoff, is not a trained historian but has written several books. She said she found the information primarily through an Internet search.
The controversy came to light after a college history professor read her daughter's copy of "Our Virginia."
