It's Never Too Late To Read a Banned Book

I recommend that you start with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or perhaps All The King's Men, or even To Kill A Mockingbird which just celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. The great poet T.S. Eliot once said that his parents forbade him to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because they were afraid it would cause him to smoke. That is neither here not there, just one of my favorite quotes relating to two of my favorite authors.

I have been reading banned books since I could make out complete words. When I was a sponsor of the Athens State University chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, we sold T-shirts that boasted "I READ BANNED BOOKS," The shirts listed a dozen banned books on the back, and people who stopped to read the T-shirts were shocked and amazed.

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. BBW has documented more than 1000 banned books.

Here are just few of the banned books that every educated person should have read. Note that eight of those listed are by Southern authors:  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, As I Lay Dying, Native Son, All The King's Men, In Cold Blood, Catcher in the Rye, the Grapes of Wrath, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Animal Farm and 1984, Candide, Gulliver's Travels, Leaves of Grass, The Great Gatsby, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, The Color Purple, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Canterbury Tales, and Ulysses (James Joyce).

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

November 13 of this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the novelist William Bradford Huie from Hartselle, Alabama. This occasion will be celebrated with numerous events particularly at the University of North Alabama in Florence. The celebration will kick off on November 3. Watch Swampland for more details.

William Bradford Huie's books were highly controversial and his method of gathering material was considered by many to be unorthodox, but I knew Huie to be a gentleman and a scholar. I feel sure he was particularly proud to have his book Ruby McCollum banned in Florida.

For a list of 100 banned or challenged books go to the American Library Association web site.

----Penne J. Laubenthal
         Related Links
William Bradford Huie and the TVA

Southern Literature: Roots and Branches

related tags

Read More...

Comments

Please login or you can to leave a comment.

If you aren't registered, Register Now to start leaving comments.