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A reconsideration committee in Northville, Michigan, voted to retain Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl after it was challenged by a mother of a middle schooler who called the book "pornographic." In a letter to the community, Assistant Superintendent Bob Behnke wrote that “the committee felt strongly that a decision to remove the use of ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a [...]
Students in middle schools in Northville, MI will continue to have the opportunity to read and study the definitive edition of Anne Frank's A Diary of a Young Girl. A district reconsideration committee voted to retain the book, which was challenged by a parent because of anatomical descriptions in the book.
The National Coalition Against Censorship has contacted the school board of Indian River County School District in Vero Beach, Florida, protesting the removal of Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation from a high school library. As we understand it, the principal removed the graphic novel because it depicts Anne Frank walking in a garden that contains classical Greek and Roman [...]
The Culpeper County, VA school system received national media attention three weeks ago when school officials said that The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank would no longer be taught in middle school classrooms. A parent had contacted the school board because the uncensored version of the diary, used in an eighth grade English class, [...]
Alan Gratz Alan Gratz has written over a dozen award-winning books for young readers. His latest YA novel, Ban This Book, tells the story of Amy Anne Ollinger, an avid reader who organizes a campaign of resistance when her favorite book and several other titles are removed from the school library. It’s funny, uplifting, enlightening and above all, [...]
Sex, violence, drugs, politics and religion have all been grounds for music censorship. In honor of Music Freedom Day, NCAC has compiled a list of 40 banned and censored songs that we doubt your parents would approve of!
The leaves are starting to change, everyone’s back to the school and work routine, and the weather’s turning chilly—the perfect time for a movie marathon of NCAC’s top 40 censored flicks. Begin reading with our #40 pick, an NC-17 film from 2013 that received a chilly welcome in Idaho.
Here they are: KRRP's Top Victories of 2013. We are proud of our work in successfully battling these book challenges, but this effort can only continue with your continued support of the project. If you love these books, support us in this fight for the freedom to read today. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99fq_L3wdHk&w=560&h=315] The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky / Glen Ellyn, [...]
The Texas Civil Rights Project has released a fascinating, detailed report on the nearly 12,000 books banned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from entering the state's prison system. The arbitrary nature of the list, including Shakespeare's sonnets and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Wistlestop Cafe, defies any security-based explanation. Check out the searchable Zoho spreadsheet to see if [...]
The book Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher, has become controversial in Grand Rapids, Michigan, because one of the stories contains the word "nigger." After a parent complained, the teacher was suspended and the book was removed from the schools, including the libraries. Controversy over racially sensitive themes and language is not new. For example, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is [...]
Chavez reads the diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank at the Brooklyn Book Festival. On September 18, 2011, the National Coalition Against Censorship organized FREE SPEECH ZONE, a read-out of banned books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. The NCAC set up a library of censored and challenged books and invited people to read passages from them. These videos [...]
In another case of challenged books from public libraries, a Wisconsin couple has petitioned for the reclassifying of several Young Adult books to Adult. Ginny Maziarka and her husband feel that books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Geography Club, and Deal With It! a whole new approach to your body, brain and life as a gURL should [...]
Currently, more than 35,000 students in the third-largest land area in Tarrant County no longer have access to all versions of the Holy Bible, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Anne Frank's Diary (The Graphic Adaptation), George by Alex Gino, All Boys Aren't Blue by George Johnson, Weird Girl and What's His Name by Meagen Brothers, and so many other notable titles. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) delivered [...]
Meet the Student Advocates for Speech club leaders for the 2022-2023 school year.
An organized political attack on books in schools threatens the education of America’s children. NCAC and over 600 co-signers are deeply concerned about this sudden rise in censorship and its impact on education, the rights of students, and freedom of expression.
In July 2021, echoing the rhetoric of the 1950s McCarthy era and in flagrant disregard of fundamental constitutional principles, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago urged the city’s commissioners to condition city funding for Illuminate Coral Gables, a public art show, on the exclusion of two of the participating artists because of their purported political views. As artists, arts professionals and free speech organizations we are deeply troubled by demands to censor a public art show so as to penalize political viewpoints.
Democracy and democratic practices should not be obstructed in the interest of streamlining deliberations and decision making by our governing bodies in this time of crisis.
UPDATE October 4, 2019: The George Washington High School Alumni Association filed a lawsuit in the public interest against the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education, challenging the School Board’s commitment to remove from public view Victor Arnautoff’s 1936 New Deal mural with panels without conducting an environmental review, which is required by California law. UPDATE August 13, [...]
Federal courts have repeatedly affirmed that prisoners have a First Amendment right to read, and publishers and others have a right to send them reading materials. And state departments of corrections have repeatedly instituted broad book bans.
NCAC calls on Facebook and Instagram to revise terms of service to allow artistic photographic nudity.
