Evans
Library Presents
Intellectual
Freedom? Yes!
Censorship? No!
July
1 - September 30, 2006
Library
Bill of Rights
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for
information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide
their services.
I. Books and
other library resources should be provided for the interest, information,
and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials
should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those
contributing to their creation.
II. Libraries
should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on
current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed
because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III. Libraries
should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to
provide information and enlightenment.
IV. Libraries
should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment
of free expression and free access to ideas.
V. A person’s
right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin,
age, background, or views.
VI. Libraries
which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve
should make such facilities available on an equitable
basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups
requesting their use.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adopted
June 18, 1948, by the ALA Council; amended February 2, 1961; January 23, 1980;
inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.
"As
I Lay Dying"
Banned in Mayfield, Kentucky (1986), for "offensive and obscene
passages referring to abortion"; it also "uses God's name
in vain."
|
"The
Grapes of Wrath"
Since 1939, it has been burned, barred, banned, challenged, and placed
on restricted use for "vulgar language" and characterization.
|
"Librorum
Prohibitorum" ("Index of Forbidden Books")
From 1559 to 1964, the Vatican published an index listing books that
Roman Catholics were forbidden to read, entirely or in part.
|
Ninety
book titles that have been challenged or banned hang from the south
lobby wall in the Evans Library. This is but a very small percentage
of the actual number of books that have been challenged or banned
over the years. Patrons stop as they enter the library and stare at
the list. They are surprised to learn they have read quite a few of
these banned or challenged books either on their own or for school.
One of the two display cases has been wrapped in a plain brown paper
with tears throughout, conveying the notion that the enclosed books/resources
are 'off-limits' or banned from viewing. As patrons peek through the
holes, they see not only actual books but symbolic artifacts reflecting
censorship: chains and a lock, duct-taped mouths of 'banned' authors,
and a jailed, hand-cuffed individual with pen in hand. In between
the two display cases patrons view a faux bonfire that contains remnants
of charred books* and is reminiscent of many periods throughout history
when books were burned and continue to be burned by individuals, organizations,
and governments.
*(out-dated
technical books permanently discarded from our library)
|
|
Some
of the Banned or Challenged Books on Display
The
Adventures of Huckelberry Finn |
Mark
Twain |
PS1305
.A1 1912 |
Of
Mice and Men |
John
Steinbeck |
PS3537
.T3234 03 1938 |
The
Catcher in the Rye |
J.D.
Salinger |
PS3537
.A426 C3 1964 |
The
Color Purple |
Alice
Walker |
PS3573
.A425 C6 1982 |
A
Wrinkle in Time |
Madeleine
L'Engle |
PS3523
.E55 W7 1962 |
To
Kill a Mockingbird |
Harper
Lee |
PS3562
.E353 T6 |
Beloved:
A Novel |
Toni
Morrison |
PS3563
.08749 B4 1987 |
Slaughterhouse
- five, or, The Children's Crusade |
Kurt
Vonnegut |
PS3572
.05 S53 1988 |
Lord
of the Flies |
William
Golding |
PR6013
.035 L6 1962 |
| Native
Son |
Richard
Wright |
PS3545
.R815 NS |
The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
Mark
Twain |
PS1306
.A1 1920 |
Song
of Solomon |
Toni
Morrison |
PS3563
.08749 S6 1978 |
The
Call of the Wild |
Jack
London |
PS3523
.046 C3 1931 |
Frankenstein |
Mary
Shelley |
PR5397
.F7 1968 |
The
Gospel According to the
New York Times |
William
Proctor |
PN4899
.N42 N377 2000 |
Forbidden
Knowledge: A Landmark Exploration of the Dark Side of Human Ingenuity
and Imagination |
Roger
Shattuck |
|
100
Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature |
Nicholas
J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova |
|
Anatomy
of a Book Controversy |
Wayne
Homstad |
PS3550
.A1 G6 1995 |
Censorship |
Robert
Emmet Long, ed. |
Z658
.U5 C39 1990 |
| |
 |
 |
"Every
burned book enlightens the world."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
To
further explore the 'banned books' dimension, an interactive quiz is available
for patrons to test their knowledge of these books by matching a book's
description with its title. Visitors to this site are welcome to do the
same.
Banned
Books Quiz
Scroll
down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
GEORGE
ELIOT
1859: Criticized as the "vile outpourings of a lewd woman's mind"
Eliot's novel, "Adam Bede" was banned/withdrawn from British circulating
libraries.
Some
Internet Sites Related to Banned Books
What
is the difference between
a 'challenge' and a 'banning'?
Why
has the Harry Potter series been challenged?
A
supplemental brochure provides these answers as
well
as additional information on banned books.
"The Sledding Hill" deals with life after death,
censorship, and religion. This book, along with all the other books
written by Chris Crutcher, have been banned at one time or another.
"...censorship
is un-American. It’s one thing for a parent to take a book out of the
hands of his or her child, quite another to take it away from all kids. Censorship
leads to ignorance, and for that reason alone, can’t be tolerated. If
you are a student who is offended by “Telephone Man” [another
book by Crutcher] my hope is that you will stand up and refuse to read it;
demand to read another book in its place. If you are a student who does like
it, I hope you will stand up for it, because in doing that, you’re not
standing up for my story, you’re standing up for yourself..."
- Chris Crutcher
The
following movies deal with some form of censorship:
Storm
Center - (a Bette Davis
classic) tells the story of a small town librarian (Davis) who refuses
to remove a book on communism (1965)
Fahrenheit
451- a futuristic fascist society where the fireman's
job is to burn books (1966)
1984
- the George Orwell classic about Big Brother
and the subordination of the individual to the state (1955)
The
Seven Minutes - the story of a bookseller
arrested for distributing an 'obscene' novel (1971)
Inherit
the Wind - a fictionalized
account of the famous Scopes 'monkey trial' starring Spencer Tracy as 'Henry
Drummond', a thinly disguised Clarence Darrow (1960)
________________________________________
“If
all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of
the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing
that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing
mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the
owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private
injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted
only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the
expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity
as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion,
still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived
of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose,
what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier
impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”
__________________________________________
Answers
to the banned books quiz above:
"A
vicious fifteen-year-old droog is the central character of this 1963 classic..."
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
"It
is a dark and stormy night..." A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine
L'Engle
"Between
1930 and 1935, [author] came into full possession of the genius and creativity
that made him America's greatest writer of the 20th century..." As
I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
"Jess
Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade..."
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
"[Author's]
novel of a Vermont farm boyhood has become a celebrated classic..." A
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
"Travis
is the epitome of cool, especially when he's in trouble..." Taming
the Star Runner by S.E. Hinton
"[Title]
is like no other novel. It has its own rationale, its own extraordinary character..."
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
"Jerry
Renault is pondering the question on the poster in his locker..." The
Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
"That
rare literary phenomenon, a Southern novel with no mildew on its magnolia
leaves..." To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
__________________________________________
...and
the moral of this story?
READ
BANNED BOOKS!
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Evans Library Instructional Programs Team.
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