Today, 19 organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, sent a letter to the Florida House of Representatives urging them to vote no on H.B. 1539. The bill, if enacted, would require school districts to remove any instructional or library material challenged as “harmful to minors” within just five days, regardless of whether the material has been properly reviewed. The [...]
Update 4/30/2025 – Despite the ongoing suspension of state funding, the Fairhope Public Library has followed proper a proper review policy and decided to retain two challenged books in the teen section. The National Coalition Against Censorship is urging Alabama officials to restore funding to Fairhope Public Library after it was penalized over complaints about young adult books. NCAC [...]
Patrick Good and E Achurch are both high school students living in Beaufort, South Carolina. While they come from different backgrounds and schools, both Good and Achurch are student leaders in the Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO). Founded in 2021, DAYLO has expanded to include chapters across South Carolina, including 5 chapters in Beaufort County. As the only [...]
In March of 2023 Michelle Hartney’s collaborative mixed media installation work titled Unplanned Parenthood was met with censorship in Idaho. In March 2025, calls for censoring the work nearly succeeded again in Illinois. Hartney met with ACAP Director Elizabeth Larison and shared more about the project, and why she believes some audiences are afraid of its powerful message. He [...]
In Tennessee, The Rutherford County Library System has approved a measure to remove all library "material that promotes, encourages, advocates for or normalizes" transgender themes. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Board to object to this decision. Targeting a particular viewpoint on gender is constitutionally impermissible. Viewpoint-based discrimination violates the principles of the First Amendment. Read NCAC's [...]
Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship expressed outrage at the Executive Order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order targets the programming of the Smithsonian Institution, which includes 21 libraries, 14 education and research centers, a zoo, and historical and architectural landmarks, and directs it to comply with the presidential administration’s sense of what constitutes “American Greatness.” [...]
NCAC is alarmed to learn of the Rhode Island School of Art and Design’s decision to close its public campus cafe, which had been hosting To Every Orange Tree, a group exhibition of student, faculty, and community members’ work on themes of “political resistance, anti-imperialism, and Palestinian liberation.” RISD administrators claimed that “unofficial complaints” about the exhibition led to unspecified “safety [...]
In Florence, Oregon, the Siuslaw School District has removed the graphic novel Flamer from the high school library despite a review committee's recommendation to keep it. The School Board overrode the committee and voted 4-3 to remove it permanently. The National Coalition Against Censorship wrote to the board to urge them to reconsider their decision and return the Flamer back [...]
Update 4/25/25 – After significant public outcry, the Radnor Township School Board reversed course and voted to return all three graphic novels to school library shelves. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Radnor Township School District following their removal of three graphic novels from the Radnor High School library. Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, and Craig [...]
Today, NCAC, along with our partners at PEN America, the Rutherford Foundation, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, joined an amicus brief written and filed by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in urging the court to uphold Mohamad Khalil’s First Amendment rights and release him from detention. In an era where political speech and academic freedom [...]
UPDATE 03/20/2025: Following a City Commission meeting which revealed that the Mayor’s proposal to evict O Cinema and rescind its municipal funding did not have adequate votes to pass, the Mayor rescinded the measure. The decision came after an outpouring of support for the independent theater, and its right to program its offerings without government interference. Today the National [...]
Monroe County Schools in Tennessee may have improperly ordered the removal of 574 books from school libraries, in response to Tennessee's Age-Appropriate Materials Act, which considers certain books as inappropriate for students, before any formal complaints were filed. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board to urge them to return all 574 books to school [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is deeply concerned by the recent “Dear Colleague Letter” issued by the U.S. Department of Education, which targets and seeks to restrict the teaching of certain race-related concepts in classrooms. This letter claims to address discrimination by eliminating race-based preferences while also targeting 'indoctrination' and the teaching of DEI concepts. While we share [...]
Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship, The Authors Guild, The Dramatists Guild of America, The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, Artists at Risk Connection, AICA International and PEN America expressed deep concern over the Trump Administration’s recent moves to impose ideological control over federally funded cultural programs. Though some of these efforts have already been hindered by a court injunction, [...]
FORT WORTH, Feb. 19, 2025 — A trio of civil liberty organizations are speaking up today to demand the Fort Worth Police Department end its unconstitutional censorship and seizure of several pieces of art that were on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the [...]
On January 20, the White House issued an executive order stating that the United States government will only recognize two sexes, male and female, as defined “at conception.” The ripple effect of this order will undoubtedly affect public schools, public libraries, and the literature that is shelved in both. Among the many harms it causes, the order targeting transgender, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship is dismayed by the news of the premature removal of an art billboard that is part of a temporary project with the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, shortly after Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed called for its deinstallation. The billboard shows a 1965 Spider Martin photograph of state troopers staring down Black civil rights protesters [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) strongly condemns the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump that aims to censor the teaching of race, gender, and identity in American schools, entitled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” Make no mistake, this Executive Order is not about ending supposed indoctrination in our schools— it is itself designed to indoctrinate and [...]
The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP), a signature initiative of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), has been at the forefront of defending the freedom to read for over 20 years. We condemn the recent actions by the U.S. Department of Education in dismissing complaints about book bans and referring to these challenges to access as a "hoax." [...]
January 23, 2025 — Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at Chicago city councilmembers’ attempts to censor political artwork on view in an exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Government officials’ efforts to silence speech because of distaste for its political position raise acute First Amendment concerns. The artwork in question is a massive, two-sided papier-mache puppet [...]
Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The Executive Order aims to inhibit the government's ability to censor–or pressure private companies to censor–constitutionally protected speech. The National Coalition Against Censorship has long argued that the government should never use its power to pressure companies to censor voices that the government [...]
New York, January 16, 2025 – In the wake of a newly-released report warning of censorship pressures faced by museum directors across the US conducted by the Association for Art Museum Directors, PEN America, and Artists at Risk Connection, the National Coalition Against Censorship encourages cultural leaders to incorporate its Museum Best Practices for Managing Controversy into museum policies. [...]
On any given day, Cameron Samuels and Da’Taeveyon Daniels are hard at work. Alongside their academic and extracurricular pursuits, Samuels and Daniels serve as Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT). As one of the NCAC’s 23 Right to Read Network (RRN) affiliates, SEAT stands out as a truly grassroots, young-people-centered organization advocating [...]
2024 FL3TCH3R Exhibit Catalog cover design UPDATE 4/10/2025: After eleven years of hosting the annual FL3TCH3R Exhibit, East Tennessee State University and the Reece Museum, which is part of the university’s Center for Appalachian Studies & Services, terminate their relationship with the project’s organizers.Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression expressed [...]
Written by Tasmia Ishma The spirit of my homeland - its aspirations and its turmoil - remains etched in my identity. As a Bengali immigrant who left at the age of six, I have always felt deeply connected to my roots, witnessing the power of youth in advocating for change and the harsh realities of censorship that often stifle those [...]
(Left) Samia Halaby, Six Golden Heroes, 2021 & (Right) Alia Farid, Piquete en el Capitolo, 2023 UPDATE 2/02/2024: Success! NCAC has received reports that the artwork by Alia Farid, Piquete en el capitolio, has been returned to the original location selected by the exhibition’s curators–an implicit admission that MSU was wrong to relocate the work in the [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is proud to join forces with 58 civil rights organizations, LGBTQ+ advocates, and free speech organizations in opposing harmful legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). For 50 years, NCAC has fought for the right to access uncensored information, and KOSA threatens to undermine that core freedom. KOSA risks silencing crucial online [...]
Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) have reintroduced a vital resolution condemning the surge in book bans across schools, libraries, and universities nationwide. As we celebrate Banned Books Week, this resolution upholds the First Amendment rights of students and affirms that the freedom to read is essential for a healthy democracy. Over 10,000 books have been banned [...]
Since its founding in 2003, Woodhull Freedom Foundation has been an unwavering champion of free speech, recognizing it as the cornerstone of our fundamental human right to sexual freedom. As a human rights organization, we have consistently stood at the forefront of the battle against censorship, particularly in defense of sexual expression, which has long been a primary target [...]
Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay has been named honorary chair for Banned Books Week 2024, which takes place September 22 – 28. DuVerney will be joined by youth honorary chair Julia Garnett, a student activist who fought book bans in her home state of Tennessee. "I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom,” said DuVernay, honorary chair of Banned [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board of Brevard Public Schools in Florida after they voted to remove Shō Harusono's Sasaki and Miyano Vol. 1 from school libraries contrary to the Book Review Committee's recommendation to retain it. NCAC is concerned that the board may have acted due to hostility towards the views expressed in the [...]
UPDATE - August 15, 2024: Following advocacy efforts and community concern, the Lubbock city council considered whether to fully reinstate the funding without any restrictions. In the final vote, the City Council approved a greatly reduced grant of $5,000 for security at FFAT. The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) expressed disappointment, but assured its commitment to [...]
Image caption: Danielle SeeWalker, G is for Genocide, 2024 In May, NCAC was alarmed to learn about the Town of Vail, Colorado’s decision to cancel Danielle SeeWalker’s artist residency with the town’s Art in Public Places Program. The residency was to include the commission of a new mural, a photo exhibition of existing work depicting contemporary [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Board of the School District of Indian River County after they removed Alan Gratz’s Ban This Book from school libraries despite a review committee's recommendation to retain the book. NCAC expressed concern that the Board may have removed this book due to disagreement with the views expressed within the material. Therefore, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) announces the launch of a new resource, Art Censorship Index: Post-October 7th, documenting the recent spike in censorship of art and artists invoking Israel or Palestine. Artworks and artists referencing the subject of Israel and Palestine have long been subjects of controversy and/or censorship, but following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and [...]
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), PEN America, and the ACLU of Florida (ACLU-FL) condemned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s veto of the entirety of the state’s annual arts budget, because the governor stated the decision was based on his distaste for certain types of artistic expression. In particular, the governor [...]
Dani Collette and Allora McCullough, Planting Seeds, Sprouting Hope, 2024, Installation view. Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at the cancellation of an exhibition at Craft Alliance, an art organization in St. Louis, MO. Following a complaint from a volunteer, the venue asserted that the project, which draws attention to the plight [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the board of Greenville County Schools in South Carolina regarding the removal of Ellen Hopkins' Perfect and Tilt and Sarah J. Maas' Empire of Storms from high school libraries. The review committee evaluated these books and concluded that they should remain in the library. The school board, however, overruled the recommendations [...]
Today, along with eleven other free expression groups, NCAC issued a letter to two congressional committees regarding their request to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) of twenty groups that the committees alleged had supported or funded recent college protests. NCAC's deep concern stems from both the breadth of the committees' requests for records (20 organizations, without [...]
When political passions run high, disagreement is often expressed as vocal protest. Cultural institutions in a democratic society need to be prepared to manage such protests without silencing the voices they target. Instead, vague “safety concerns” are used to justify the suppression of speech within US cultural and educational institutions with alarming frequency. On April 15th, the Provost and [...]
