William Louis Poteat was a Wake Forest alumnus (1877), biology professor, and President of Wake Forest College (1905-1927). This collection documents Poteat's professional life as a professor and College president.
As a College professor, Poteat was a strong advocate for evolution, arguing the theory was in line with Baptist canon. He was an active leader in Southern Progressivism and was fundamental in preventing legislation that would have not allowed evolution-based curriculum in North Carolina. He received public backlash, particularly from fellow Baptists, on this stance beginning in 1920 and had to defend his position at Wake Forest College. Later in his life, Poteat focused his evolutionary studies on the subject of eugenics. He publically lectured in favor of eugenics. Most notably, his 1921 speech "The Standard Man" stated the "African race" was inferior to both the Europeans and Athenians and called for "the feebleminded, the insane, the epileptic, the inebriate, the congenital defective of any type, and the victim of chronic contagious diseases [to be] denied the opportunity of perpetuating their kind to the inevitable deterioration of the race." This speech was repeated throughout the South, including by Poteat himself, and these views reached thousands of people. He believed that the State ought play an operative role in maintaining purity in society, and although he didn't introduce its legislation, Poteat was influential in the Eugenics Board of North Carolina's establishment in 1933.

ZSR Special Collections’ copy is from W.L. Poteat’s library, with his annotations.