In 1978 the Tennessee Legislature passed a law requiring that after “July 1, 1978, no person shall be granted a baccalaureate degree of any
kind . . . unless he or she has earned credit in American History.” Students having taken a year of US history in high school did not have to take additional coursework, but students who did not take US history in secondary school were required to take nine quarter hours before they could receive the bachelor’s degree.