The first book ban in America is believed to be in 1637 in Quincey, Massachusetts. No surprise, the intolerant Puritans didn’t like the book. “New English Canaan” was a three volume work by Thomas Morton. It was about the history, beliefs and practices of Native Americans and the poor treatment they suffered at the hands of the Puritans. These are the same Puritans who ran the Salem Witch Trials years later. There is a long history of attempts, some successful, to ban books that certain people think are offensive especially to children. Most are politically conservative and religious and believe they know best about what is suitable for everyone else and their children.
History shows us the flaming piles of books the Nazis banned in the 1930’s. The old film of those fires should disturb believers in a free society to this day. The Nazis hated everyone who was not like them. They, of course, burned book written by Jews and well known authors like John Dos Passos, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, and Jack London. The United States has of a long history of attempts to ban books and even burn them. In 1973, the school board in Drake, North Dakota ordered the burning of thirty-two copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” and sixty copies of James Dickey’s “Deliverance” because of profanity and homosexuality. In recent years, people have gone after the “Harry Potter” series claiming it glorified witchcraft.
Alex Elbe is an Associate Professor of Economics and Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. In a recent study he pointed out, “Books can change outcome for students themselves when they see people who look like them represented…What people see affects who they become, what they believe about themselves and also what they believe about others.”
60 Minutes did a story this week about an attempt by Moms for Liberty, a conservative group, that tried to get ninety-seven books banned from schools in Beaufort, South Carolina. The books deal with minorities, gays, lesbians and transgender themes and characters. All subjects conservatives can’t tolerate. The school district checked all ninety-seven books and removed only three. Dick Geier, Vice Chairman of he Beaufort school board, told 6o Minutes, “What we’re having a problem with is parents that want to determine what other parents rights are for their children to read what they want.” That’s exactly the problem. The Beaufort school board told parents they could tell the school librarians not to allow their children to take out books they found objectionable. When 60 Minutes asked a librarian if a parent ever asked her about not allowing their child to take out a certain book, the librarian said she has never been asked by any parent.
Parents can certainly decide if they think a book is objectionable for their child. But these self-righteous, right wing fanatics don’t have a right to tell everyone else what their children can and can’t read. There is no more important tool for a well rounded education than a child’s exposure to a variety of books and ideas under the guidance of their parents. These groups that want to ban books are afraid such exposure will contaminate their children’s minds. Maybe if we had a better understanding of the world and people different from ourselves we might close the divisions that are tearing us apart. Books should shed the light of understanding. Fear of books diminishes us all.
well done, as always. the issue is never will there be attacks on different liberties; the issue will always be will the vast majority always have the patience, commitment and care enough to ensure that the attacks are met head on and beaten back.