MoveOn Political Action’s Banned Book Mobile stops for an event with local authors and teachers on October 1, 2023, in Decatur, Georgia.there have been 695 attempts to censor library materials and services, as well as documented challenges to 1,915 unique titles over a seven-month period in 2023.
As Banned Books Week comes to a close, it’s critical to acknowledge not only the current crisis but also its deep roots in the history of the United States. Republican-dominated state and local governments are either curtailing or punishing schools and colleges from teaching, reading about or engaging in conversations related to diversity, including the civil rights movement and/or Black history, as an intentional and long-running effort to turn back the hands of time in U.S.
Approximately 40 Freedom Schools were set up to teach subjects like reading, math and civics, as well as help Black citizens know and exercise their constitutional rights. Although fraught with danger from local and national hate groups, those youth activists made a tremendous difference in shifting the narratives around future possibilities.
Throughout the mid- to late-1800s, John H. Van Evrie made it his life’s work to write favorably about white supremacy and the value of white rule. He was an influential author, writing versions of U.S. history thatTeaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity