Early in 2013, a library sciences researcher at the University of Illinois proved what many of us already thought: Fredric Wertham, the child psychologist behind the anti-comics screed Seduction of the Innocent, fabricated much of his evidence against comics. The…
Category: Education
CBLDF’s 10 Most Read Stories of 2013
CBLDF ran hundreds of stories about censorship and helped fight dozens of book challenges in 2013. Let’s take a look at the top 10 most read stories of the year: Help Defend The Perks of Being a Wallflower In June,…
Petition Challenges School District’s Attempt to Ban Books
A petition on Change.org came to CBLDF’s attention this week. The petition challenges a proposed policy in the Muhlenberg School District in Reading, Pennsylvania, that would require all teachers in the district “to read and check each [book] for violence,…
Tales From the Code: The Christmas Panic
It was “The Night Before Christmas.” At least that was the name of the story in Panic #1, a 1953 release from MC Gaines’ EC Comics. This story not only stirred controversy and was banned in the state of Massachusetts, but it…
CBLDF Joins Coalition Defending Alice Walker’s The Color Purple
For the last month, a parent in Brunswick County, North Carolina, has been waging a war against Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple. CBLDF has joined a coalition led by CBLDF-sponsored Kids’ Right to Read Project to…
Book Challenges on the Rise in 2013
2013 saw a significant increase in book challenges, especially in the last quarter: CBLDF-sponsored Kids’ Right to Read Project just released a press release announcing a three-fold increase in challenges over the last three months, and a greater than 50%…
Student Newspaper Apologizes for Allegedly Racist Cartoon
Sports fans all over the country were baffled over Auburn University’s recent defeat of the University of Alabama in the Iron Bowl. As a result, the University of Alabama’s student newspaper, The Crimson White, published a satirical cartoon depicting an…
Knowledge Deleted: How a Louisiana Librarian Encouraged Teens to Make an Anti-Censorship Comic
Recently, an article from Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, caught our eye: During Banned Books Week earlier this year, the local public library used a grant from the Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund to run a three-day comic book workshop for teens.…
Please Include CBLDF in Your Year-End Charitable Giving
CBLDF is able to perform our important work thanks to the direct contributions of supporters like you. December is the Fund’s most important fundraising month because we receive more than a quarter of our annual budget in year-end gifts from…
Board Votes Unanimously to Keep The House of the Spirits After Appeal
Recently, CBLDF joined a coalition led by CBLDF-sponsored Kids’ Right to Read Project in defense of Isabel Allende’s The House of Spirits, which was challenged in North Carolina. A second review committee convened and unanimously voted to keep the book…