People For the American Way Foundation president Michael Keegan sent a letter to members of the Randolph County, North Carolina, Board of Education today urging them to reverse their decision banning Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man from school libraries. Following a complaint from a parent, the board voted 5-2 on Monday to remove all copies of the acclaimed American literary work from school libraries in the county, Asheboro’s Courier-Tribune reported.
The Courier-Tribune is now reporting that the board may indeed reconsider the ban, noting that they plan to hold a special meeting about the book on Wednesday, September 25.
The full text of the letter is below:
Randolph County Board of Education
c/o Dr. Stephen Gainey, Superintendent
McDowell Governmental Center
2222-C S. Fayetteville St
Asheboro, NC 27205
September 20, 2013
Dear Members of Randolph County Board of Education:
On behalf of our 816,840 members and activists, we urge you to reverse your decision to remove all copies of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man from Randolph County school libraries, which was reported by Asheboro’s Courier-Tribune.
Since its 1952 publication, Invisible Man has been targeted multiple times for censorship attempts. To be sure, it is a piece of literature that explores painful themes – one that, as journalist Roger Rosenblatt put it, “captured the grim realities of racial discrimination as no book had.” Yet despite the opinion of one board member that the novel lacks “any literary value,” Invisible Man is among the most acclaimed American novels of the past century. It won the 1953 National Book Award for fiction and was deemed by TIME magazine one of the top 100 English-language novels since 1923.
As an organization that works with elected officials, we recognize that school board members often face difficult decisions that require balancing the concerns of parents with the educational development of students. But denying students access to landmark novels such as Invisible Man because of a parent’s complaint harms students’ ability to learn from and engage with the rich body of literature our country has produced. In addition, multiple committees in your district recommended against its removal.
Our nation’s education system is designed to teach students critical thinking skills – to expose them to new, and sometimes challenging, ideas. This classic literary work must not be banned from schools. We urge you to reconsider this decision, and to make this book available once again to students in your school district.
Sincerely,
Michael Keegan
President, People For the American Way Foundation