September 24, 2024
The bans mostly target works centering on people of color and women, especially those who experience sexual abuse or rape.
National Banned Book Week spreads awareness of controversial novels that are at risk of being removed, if they haven’t already, from school libraries. A new report estimates that over 10,000 bans happened in the last school year.
Pen America, a freedom of expression advocacy group, released the report on Sept. 23. Its findings detailed a “dramatic” rise in book bans, leading to fewer books available to students that often explore subjects such as race, feminism, and sexuality.
The number of book bans that occurred during the 2023-2024 nearly tripled the 3,362 recorded the year prior.
“In part due to the targeting of sexual content, the stark increase includes books featuring romance, books about women’s sexual experiences, and books about rape or sexual abuse as well as continued attacks on books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, or books about race or racism and featuring characters of color,” the organization said on its website.
However, this number is only growing, as an updated tally will be released in the upcoming months to accompany a public Index of School Book Bans. Most of these bans occurred in states already eliminating DEI curriculums, such as Florida and Iowa, accounting for 8,000 of the book bans confirmed.
The report also noted that anti-DEI movements and legislation passed in the states greatly contributed to this increase. Florida’s HB 1069, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, required that all books challenged for “sexual conduct” be banned from school libraries while under review. Moreover, the group emphasized that these numbers underestimate the wide-ranging bans taking place across America.
PEN America added, “These numbers also do not account for the many reports of soft censorship, including increased hesitancy in book selection, ideologically driven restrictions of school book purchases, the removal of classroom collections, and the cancellations of author visits and book fairs.”
New additions to the books currently banned across school districts nationwide include Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family, James Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain, and W.E.B. DuBois’ Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880.
As book bans continue to spread, DEI-focused lessons and literature also remain at risk, limiting the education children can receive in certain school districts.
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