Back to School: 7 Resources for Parents, Teachers, and School Administrators
This list of our best resources on censorship and the First Amendment in schools will help you get ready for the school year.
Back to School: 9 Resources for Students
This school year we want you to be prepared to defend your right to speak, think and create.
Professor Under Fire for Quoting James Baldwin | UPDATE: Victory!
Laurie Sheck, a professor at the New School, is under investigation after using the N-word in a class while quoting James Baldwin.
Remembering Toni Morrison
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 [...]
PRIDE: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag Challenged in Virginia School
Controversy arose in Hanover County, Virginia, after a parent complained about PRIDE: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag being read aloud in a second-grade classroom.
Books Behind Bars: The Right to Read in Prison
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.
White Nationalists Disrupt Event at DC Bookstore
When a nation built on broad protections for speech faces times of deep political division, it must draw a firm line between freedom of speech and violent conduct or disruptive behavior aimed at silencing others.
LGBTQ Stories Top Banned Books List
ALA's Most Challenged Books list for 2018 is dominated by LGBTQ stories and characters, reflecting a growing trend.
Washington State’s Decision to Ban Book Donations to Prisons is Harmful
We join PEN America, a member of our coalition, in opposing Washington State’s decision to restrict access to used books in prisons.
Defend LGBTQ Stories: A Resource
Despite hard-won progress towards LGBTQ equality, books centering LGBTQ characters and stories remain among the most frequently challenged and banned in schools and libraries. The freedom to read stories about people of diverse sexual and gender identities can validate and empower all youth, especially those who may identify as LGBTQ. When LGBTQ youth do not see themselves represented in [...]
Maine Bill Aims to Weaken Protection Against School Censorship | UPDATE: VICTORY!
Maine lawmaker's attempts to label educational material obscene threatens intellectual freedom.
Attempt to Ban “Obscene” Material in Maine Schools
Maine lawmaker's attempts to label educational material obscene threatens intellectual freedom.
North Carolina District Bans ‘Beartown’
The novel by Fredrik Backman has been banned district-wide after parents complained about vulgarity and graphic scenes.
Local Pastors Attempt to Ban Books from Banned Books Display at Maine Public Library
The National Coalition Against Censorship supports Rumford Public Library’s display and freedom to choose how best to serve their community.
NCAC Supports Louisiana Library Hosting Drag Queen Story Time | UPDATE: Success!
Controversy arose over the announcement that the library would host the family-focused program, which features reading, singing and crafts presided over by drag queens.
Read with Pride: 10 Great LGBTQ YA Books for Summer
Kick off summer with NCAC's recommendations for books that amplify LGBTQ stories and voices, and that are frequently banned in schools!
Fun Home Under Fire in New Jersey
Fun Home is under attack again, this time in a New Jersey High School.
ALA Reveals Top 10 Silenced Stories of 2017
Often, the most frequently challenged books tell the stories that most need to be heard. The 10 most challenged books of 2017, according to the American Library Association, were no different.
Meet Maggie Budzyna: A Young Filmmaker Determined to Resist Injustice
Maggie Budzyna's debut film, CENSORED, tackles the slippery slope of banning words from public dialogue. We spoke with the 17-year-old filmmaker about censorship, youth activism and the importance of using her artistic freedom to resist injustice. Watch her film and read the interview.
How I Became a Lit Activist: A 5-Step Guide
When her school district banned her favorite book, The Hate U Give, from libraries, 15-year old Ny'Shira Lundy was inspired to take action.
NCAC Opposes Removal of To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn from Minnesota Classrooms
While it is understandable that a novel that repeatedly uses a highly offensive racial slur would generate discomfort among some parents and students, the problems of living in a society where racial tensions persist will not be resolved by banishing literary classics from the classroom.
Texas Library Evaluates Policy After Criticism of LGBT-Themed Display
A library in Temple, Texas was criticized for highlighting LGBT-themed books during June 2017's celebration of Pride Month and equal space was demanded for anti-LGBT material.
Free Speech and Educational Advocacy Organizations Call on Baltimore City School Administrators to Restore BUCK in Classrooms
An Open Letter to the Baltimore City Public School District: The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and its partners in the Kids’ Right to Read Project urge administrators to return BUCK: A Memoir by Professor M.K. Asante to the high school curriculum so that students can see their lives reflected in the books they read. Its removal was arbitrary and damaging to students.
NCAC Urges Texas School District to Reverse Ban on The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give has been removed from school libraries in Katy Independent School District in suburban Houston, Texas. After reviewing the district’s own book review policy, NCAC is formally urging the district’s superintendent to reinstate the book while it is under review.
Cody High School Urged to Keep Acclaimed Book in School Library
Cody District Public Schools will convene a committee in early December to determine whether Tanya Stone’s acclaimed novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, will remain in the Cody High School library after a single parent complaint led to an appeal for its removal.
Conejo Valley Unified School District Back in Censorship News UPDATE: Board Adopts Controversial Opt-Out Policy
A CA school board is set to vote on a widely criticized policy that would stoke parental fears and anxieties, invite self-censorship and wreak havoc with the curriculum.
NCAC Protests Banning of To Kill A Mockingbird; UPDATE: Victory!
Although some may understandably dislike the book’s use of racial slurs, it is essential to any realistic and pedagogically sound understanding of our nation’s history.
NCAC Criticizes Illinois School’s Decision to Remove Book Prior to Review UPDATE: Book Restored to Curriculum!
The groups argue the decision to immediately cease teaching the book in response to a single complaint imposes a “heckler’s veto” on the curriculum and deprives all students of their First Amendment right to read a pedagogically valuable, National Book Award-winning novel. UPDATE: Book restored to curriculum!
Victory! NCAC Successfully Defends ‘Part-Time Indian’ in Minnesota
In a letter sent last week to the Annandale Board of Education, NCAC affirmed that the right of students to read pedagogically valuable literature must be prioritized over the subjective concerns of select parents
Censorship Made Me More Defiant – An Interview with David Levithan
David Levithan, an award-winning author and editor of dozens of books, will be honored along with former NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin, at the NCAC Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders on Nov. 6 in New York.
NCAC’s Book Censorship Action Kit
If you are embroiled in a censorship controversy, this is the resource for you. NCAC's action kit offers practical advise for understanding, addressing and fighting censorship incidents.
NCAC Praises CA School for Rejecting Calls to Restrict Classroom Reading
The board met on Monday night to review their literature policy in light of the controversy but voted unanimously to keep it unchanged.
School Official Calls for Kite Runner’s Removal From Indianapolis Classroom
Book challenge season has begun in Indianapolis!
NCAC Warns CA School District Against Dropping Proposed Curriculum; Victory! Board Finally Votes to Implement Curriculum
By choosing to remove the book, a precedent is set for the success of future book challenges that place objectionable content over pedagogical merit.
NCAC Urges Wisconsin Superintendent to Retain Award-Winning Novel in Curriculum; UPDATE: Victory! Board Finally Votes to Retain Book
The groups emphasize that the mere presence of explicit language and violence in a book provides no justification for its removal.
NCAC’s Executive Director Honored for Free Speech Advocacy by the Freedom to Read Foundation
The award will be presented at the 2017 American Library Association Annual Conference during its Opening General Session on Friday, June 24, in Chicago.
NCAC Criticizes Elementary School’s Ban on Personal Copies of 13 Reasons Why
The groups underline that the First Amendment protects a student’s right to receive and possess literature, as long as the books in question do not cause disruption to the educational process.
Elementary School Bans Students from Possessing 13 Reasons Why on School Grounds
NCAC is in the process of writing to the elementary school underlining that students have a First Amendment right to receive and possess literature, provided the books in question do not cause disruption to school activities.
A Part Time Indian Challenged in Minnesota School District; UPDATE: After NCAC Action, Principal Recommends Book Remain in Curriculum
The objecting New London parents say that the book features “gratuitous and unnecessary” profanity and sexual references.
NCAC Demands Ohio High School Restore Eleanor & Park to English Curriculum
The groups’ letter underlines that the hasty removal of the book, after a single complaint, sets a harmful precedent that could leave an entire curriculum in tatters.