I moved this from the "racist judge" thread. It merits a discussion of its own.
This is a list of books challenged or banned (in schools somewhere in the US by or about African Americans:
Quote:
A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A SANDWICH by Alice Childress
A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest Gaines
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN by Ernest Gaines
BELOVED by Toni Morrison
THE BEST SHORT STORIES BY NEGRO WRITERS by Langston Hughes
THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison
THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS by Maya Angelou
JUBILEE by Margaret Walker
Banned somewhere in the U.S.A
The Most Frequently Challenged Books Written by Authors of Color, 1990-2000
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This is not to suggest that the above list is representative of all book banning. But does racism play a significant role in banning the books listed above?
WTF is going on when books ranging from Catcher in the Rye to Gossip Girls are banned.
The most frequently challenged books in 2006
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) received a total of 546 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.
What motivates book banning? Are the efforts sincere or a screen for intolerance.
What can (or should) we do about it?