Last week, the Tucson school board voted to rescind an objection to “culturally relevant coursework” as part of a plan to desegregate district schools. The move means that the district’s acclaimed Mexican American Studies program may be reinstated, and with…
Category: Education
2012: The Year in Censorship
Now that 2012 has wrapped up and we’re taking our first steps into 2013, let’s pause a moment to take a look at the path behind us. As we look at some of our top censorship stories from 2012, it’s…
Evidence Does Not Support Link Between Video Games and Violent Crime
With Senator Jay Rockefeller’s (D – WV) announcement that he is drafting a bill mandating that the National Academy of Sciences research the effect of video games on children, several sources have been examining the current research on video games…
Library Censorship in 2012
One would think that now that we’re well into the 21st Century, censorship would no longer be a problem. However, defending graphic novels and novels against library and school challenges remains a key part of CBLDF’s mission. In the last…
What Is the Advisory Board? CBLDF Executive Director Explains
Last week, CBLDF announced the launch of our new Advisory Board, which will be chaired by CBLDF founder Denis Kitchen and and longtime supporter Neil Gaiman. In the wake of the announcment, The Comics Reporter‘s Tom Spurgeon reached out to…
Tales From the Code: Welcome to Government Comics
Throughout history, state and federal governments have utilized popular culture to spread their message. Given the effectiveness and popularity of sequential art, it should be no surprise that comics would be enlisted into the cause. And much like Marvel’s merry…
Santa’s Pipe Missing from New Edition of Classic Poem
Many of the traits now attributed to Santa Claus in English-speaking countries — jolliness, rotundity, eight tiny reindeer, a penchant for sleigh travel and chimney diving — have their origin in the classic poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” written…
CBLDF Establishes Advisory Board: Denis Kitchen and Neil Gaiman Named Co-Chairs
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is pleased to announce the establishment of a formal advisory board to assist the organization in advancing its mission to protect the First Amendment rights of the comics art form. The advisory board will…
CBLDF Annual Report
It’s been a spectacular year for CBLDF, with victory in the Ryan Matheson case, clearing the name of an American citizen who was arrested for the comics on his laptop; a $60,000 donation from the Gaiman Foundation to pay for…
Teaching Controversial Comics: A First-Hand Account
As we were traversing the interwebs, we came across an amazing article courtesy of The Comics Observer and educator Anastasia Betts about the use of controversial graphic novels in classrooms. What follows is the entirety of the article, reprinted here…