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…
Category: Education
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…
CBLDF Signs On Against Massachusetts Challenge
The season of book challenges and bans continues for CBLDF, the Kids’ Right to Read Project, and allied groups, which yesterday issued a letter in defense of two books targeted for removal from 9th and 10th grade classrooms in Springfield,…
The Gaiman Foundation Contributes $60,000 to CBLDF for Education Program
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is grateful to acknowledge the generosity of the Gaiman Foundation, who today contributed $60,000 to advance the organization’s growing education program. After more than a decade of service, Neil Gaiman retired from the CBLDF’s…
Know Your Comics Censorship History!
The history of comics censorship is a sordid saga of misguided censors, self-imposed silence, criminal prosecutions, and suppression of free expression that led to the obliteration of thousands of careers, more than a few publishers, and even an entire country’s…
Utah Mom Sues to Return Book to Library Shelves
Earlier this year Patricia Polacco’s picture book In Our Mothers’ House, which depicts a happy and racially mixed family headed by two lesbians, was placed under restricted access in a Davis, Utah, School District elementary library. The book was segregated…
A Librarian’s Thoughts on Protecting Intellectual Freedom
Last weekend, CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein attended the annual conference for the New York Library Association. Guest blogger Arthur Friedman attended the conference and shared his thoughts on the role of librarians in protecting intellectual freedom: Saratoga Springs, New…
NC Parents Fight for Children’s Right to Read
Books and graphic novels are persistently banned in schools and libraries across the country due to complaints from fundamentalist groups and overbearing parents who feel it their responsibility to suppress access to legal speech they find objectionable. A group of…