The history of banning books and censorship in the United States educational system is more widespread than most are aware of. Dating back in United States history, activist groups have rallied against textbooks and resources that they believe are unworthy and inappropriate in the classroom for various reasons. From the 40s through the Cold War, activists rallied against textbooks with alleged “socialist bias”1. For instance, textbooks that spoke fondly of the New Deal or other welfare programs in the United States were accused of being Communist or Socialist.
Whether or not the texts promoted “anti-American values”, the damage was done to textbook authors and publishers. Many attackers of textbooks reportedly had ties to fascist groups in America and defenders claimed that their tactics were all in an attempt to “sway gullible citizens”1. Historically, feigning outrage which subsequently riles up masses, even when the facts of the matter may not support, has proven to be a powerful weapon. Examples of this are commonly referred to as populism, which is an approach that attempts to appeal to common people who may feel as though they are disregarded by the political elite. More often than not, those invoking populism do not have the common peoples interests at heart and merely use their support to gain power and their own elite status.
Examples throughout history of populism include the rise of communism across Eastern Europe and Central America as well as during the fall of communism in Eastern Europe as countries attempts to rebuild and redefine themselves. While book banning isn’t as extreme as the rise and fall of governments, similar tactics and methods are used to try and make changes within the Educational system. Because education surrounds their children, parents are emotionally attached to what happens in the classroom because of the impact on their kids.
One of the most commonly used examples of book banning within Literature is in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The case that activists use against banning literature is shown in this novel as “the people, who do not care for books, are ignorant and aloof towards the world around them.2 They aren’t able to think critically about the world around them and avoid real world issues, instead focusing on superficial things. By avoid problems, or things that make them uncomfortable, humans in this novel show inflexibility to grow, learn, and care about others around them. Similarly, in the United States, the majority of book bans revolve around issues that make parents or children uncomfortable, and the removal of these books facilitates an environment without exposure to real-world issues and the conversations, learning and growth that it brings.
For instance, John Brown, a white anti-slavery activist who heroically worked and fought to start a slave rebellion and free slaves in the south. However, some textbooks choose “take [a] neutral approach” to his story while others talk of him as insane or crazy3. However, his ideals and morals centered around equality and justice for slaves as he viewed it as immoral and wrong. While his ideas were certainly radical for the time, rather than focus on why he was an outlier in society at the time and the white racism that existed, textbooks choose to ignore this.
Similarly, in depictions of Abraham Lincoln in any textbook K-12, he is known simply as the man who freed the slaves by signing the Emancipation Proclamation and by winning the Civil War. This is a shallow depiction of Lincoln, whom textbooks revere as though he had much higher reasoning that anyone before him and is cast as a sort of white savior. What textbooks leave out is that Lincoln himself wrestled greatly with questions of slavery and race3. However, it’s much easier to avoid the facts and conversations about the commonplace that racism has within American history. It was not simply extremists and a switch did not simply switch once Lincoln came along and freed the slaves.
Because of the fear and backlash as well as loss of sales and profit, many textbook companies and publishers choose to avoid controversial topics or descriptions even when they may be historically accurate. This is a form of censorship in it of itself. While textbooks may be factually accurate, they don’t do enough to tell the full story and students do not grow or learn as much as they would have had they been exposed to misconceptions and the complexities that exist in history and society. Currently, many textbooks gloss over swathes of history rather than get into detailed depictions and historically accurate representations of controversial or uncomfortable issues such as slavery, segregation, treatment of Native Americans, etc.
All of this history has impacted the current culture war within public school. To go to a description of the present-day issue, go to the current problem tab.
1. ZIMMERMAN, JONATHAN. “The Cold War Assault on Textbooks.” Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools, UNIV OF CHICAGO PRESS, S.l., 2022.
2. Ligo, Beata B. “The Representation of Anti-Liberalism Through the Act of Banning Books as Seen in Ry Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451”. 2021
3. Loewen, James W. “John Brown and Abraham Lincoln.” Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, The New Press, New York, NY, 2018, pp. 171–199.