NEW YORK - The National Coalition Against Censorship defends the freedom to write, publish and read books. Therefore, we strongly support Penguin Random House’s decision to publish a book by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. At a time when challenges to books in schools and libraries are at record highs, it is deeply ironic that hundreds of people [...]
NEW YORK – Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which represents 59 education, publishing, religious and arts organizations, joins the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund and PEN America to call attention to the cancellation of plays at two universities following protests over their content. The groups released the following statement: Colleges and universities should be places to explore and [...]
Update 02/08/2023: After nearly six years of calls to do so, the Defense Department of the U.S. Government has agreed to end the Trump Administration’s policy preventing the release of artwork made by prisoners of the Guantànamo Bay Detention Camp. Former and departing prisoners are now permitted to retain a “practicable quantity” of their artworks they made while imprisoned, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which represents 59 trusted education, publishing, and arts organizations, joins the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund and PEN America to encourage Texas Wesleyan University to support artistic free expression and reschedule Down In Mississippi, a play by Carlyle Brown that the university's theatre department recently canceled due to language concerns and complaints. History is [...]
Updated 10/8/2024 — Amid a lawsuit filed by publishers and activists, 24 previously-restricted books have been returned to school library shelves. Updated 3/27/2023 — The school board has reviewed 4 of the books challenged and voted to retain the books in their schools. Those books were Toni Morrison's “The Bluest Eye”, Raina Telgemeier's "Drama," Amy Reed's "The Nowhere Girls." and [...]
NEW YORK - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is deeply concerned by the threatened censorship of a mural that the town of Greenburgh, New York, commissioned from the artist known as Kindo Art. The alteration of the mural without the artist’s permission would be a violation of his First Amendment rights as well as those of the residents of [...]
CHICAGO — Sourcebooks, a leading independent publisher based in Chicago, and the American Library Association’s (ALA) book publishing imprint, ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman, announce the publication of “Read These Banned Books: A Journal and 52-Week Reading Challenge.” Available via the ALA Store as well as through bookstores nationwide, this interactive recommended reading list presents readers with a different banned or [...]
When Jerry Craft's New Kid was banned from school libraries in Katy, Texas earlier this year for "pervasively vulgar" content, I defended his book and advocated against this inexplicable censorship. After that, school board meetings in Texas only intensified. After months of persistent demands for intellectual freedom being outnumbered by conservatives and drowned out by more book bans, we finally [...]
For this year’s YFEP Film Contest, we invited teens to create a film on the importance of expressing one’s gender and identity through personal appearance. The 3 winners tackled a wide range of polarizing, and often taboo, topics including gun violence, immigrant family separation, gender equality, toxic masculinity, shaming and bullying, and climate change. The Chairs of the New [...]
Rhetorically framed as defense of free speech, the President’s Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, is exactly the opposite: an attempt to intimidate social media platforms into yielding to the president’s views of what speech should be allowed online. While we agree that social media platforms “function in many ways as a 21st-century equivalent of the public square” and share [...]
As misinformation proliferates, protests escalate, and the 2020 U.S. presidential election looms, how much should social media companies regulate the content on their platforms? Rules and regulations are changing as social media giants are figuring out how to wield their unprecedented power over information. As an organization committed to free expression, we welcome efforts to provide more information, alternative sources [...]
These are the free speech stories our readers cared about most this year.
In November 2019, for Creative Time Summit X: Speaking Truth, our Arts Advocacy Program (AAP) organized the roundtable session Fear and Controversy: Censorship in the Arts at the Cooper Union with artists Christina Freeman (UltraViolet Archive), Roopa Vasudevan (Center for Media at Risk, University of Pennsylvania) and Joy Garnett (NCAC's Arts Advocacy Program). The number of attendees (approx. 25 [...]
No Starch Press data science book bundle benefits NCAC because data collection and analysis is used throughout the world to suppress people's rights.
Svetlana Mintcheva, NCAC's Director of Programs, presented a talk at the Harvard Law School Library on the effects contemporary moral outrage has on the arts and culture.
This list of our best resources on censorship and the First Amendment in schools will help you get ready for the school year.
This school year we want you to be prepared to defend your right to speak, think and create.
Joan Bertin (former executive director, NCAC), Toni Morrison, Fran Lebowitz “The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard by the wrong people, outlawed languages flourishing underground, essayists’ questions challenging authority never being posed, unstaged plays, canceled films—that thought is a nightmare. As [...]
Over 100 teen filmmakers spoke Truth to Power for this year’s YFEP Film Contest. We invited teens to speak directly to those in power to lead change about issues that matter to them. The 12 finalist films tackled a wide range of polarizing, and often taboo, topics including gun violence, immigrant family separation, gender equality, toxic masculinity, shaming and [...]
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.
School officials have broad discretion to establish curricula and decide what materials to include in their classrooms and libraries. However, parents, special interest groups and others sometimes attempt to impose their personal beliefs on the public school system and demand the removal of educational materials. Listed below are some general considerations school administrators should take into account when such challenges [...]
A US-based Chinese artist was forced to remove three paintings from a show in North Carolina to avoid "offending" patrons.
A library in Kansas is considering a second challenge to three widely-lauded LGBTQ books for youth.
New York's El Museo del Barrio recently cancelled a retrospective of the work of Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. This cancellation is the latest example of art institutions cancelling or modifying shows in response to public pressure.
The Senate considers a bill expressing federal support for state and local anti-BDS laws.
On December 17th, Tumblr permanently banned adult content from its platform. Under the new community guidelines, any image that depicts sex acts, real-life human genitalia, or (with a few exceptions) female nipples will be hidden from public view. Despite the company’s claims, the new guidelines will not create a “better, more positive” Tumblr.
NCAC has joined with 17 other organizations in filing a brief with the US Supreme Court in the case of Prison Legal News v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections.
Former NCAC board member and leading First Amendment attorney Robert O'Neil leaves behind a legacy of inclusion and equal rights.
The PCLOB has now lacked a quorum for over 19 months, hamstringing its ability to function.
The University of Kentucky has unveiled a new site-specific public artwork by Philadelphia artist Karyn Olivier, commissioned in response to a heated controversy around a fresco that students said was traumatizing, creating a model for balancing conflict and tensions around campus art.
Removals of Alex Jones's content from online platforms raise questions about content regulation, censorship and who chooses what we can see, and shine a harsh light on the challenges tech companies face in applying their own content guidelines.
A new study confirms that trigger warnings may do more harm than good.
In the wake of recent controversies, the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art is providing guidance to its members by endorsing NCAC's Museum Best Practices for Managing Controversy.
NCAC has joined the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas in a letter to the University of Kansas (KU) strongly urging it to take a stand against censorship by restoring a public artwork that the university removed last week.
Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach separately pressured officials at the University of Kansas (KU) to remove an art display, threatening the free expression of the artist, curator and KU students.
Both The Hate U Give and All American Boys have been highly praised for their complex handling of stories centering on the intersections of racism and police violence, but local police are challenging the books' inclusion on Waldo High School's summer reading list.
NCAC has signed on to a statement authored by the Student Press Law Center in response to the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper and the targeting of journalists.
This year's Youth Free Expression Program Film Contest asked filmmakers under 19 to create films that think broadly about protest, demonstration and change. After receiving hundreds of entries, we are delighted to share our 8 semi-finalist films.
Kick off summer with NCAC's recommendations for books that amplify LGBTQ stories and voices, and that are frequently banned in schools!
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and ArtsEverywhere have launched an online roundtable to investigate the intersections of art, freedom and the politics of social justice.
