Banned Books Week: African-American Classics Barred From Classrooms

Invisible Man, The Bluest Eye and more.

83406989
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - A Randolph County, North Carolina, school board banned Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison in September because they could not find “any literary value” in the 1952 classic. However, the school board rescinded its ban on Sept. 25, returning it to local high school libraries.(Photo: Courtesy of Random House)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Harper Lee’s emotionally charged novel To Kill a Mockingbird has faced as much scrutiny as it has praise since it was published in 1960. In the past decade, schools in Tennessee, New Jersey, North Carolina and Illinois have removed it from the curriculum because its uses of the word “n----r” and explores racism and incest.(Photo: Courtesy of J.B. Lippincott & Co.)
The Bluest Eye  - A year after Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published, Morrison’s first book, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970.The novel instantly became an American classic as it exposed American concepts of self-identity and beauty.(Photo: Courtesy of Vintage Publishing)Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - Published in 1882, this American classic was written in response to the passage of the second Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, which declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters. The book immediately enraged white Southerners and was banned for a time in many parts of the South. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Next Gallery

12 Powerful Quotes from Black Women Athletes to Inspire Greatness

12 Photos

2 / 10

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - A Randolph County, North Carolina, school board banned Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison in September because they could not find “any literary value” in the 1952 classic. However, the school board rescinded its ban on Sept. 25, returning it to local high school libraries.(Photo: Courtesy of Random House)

ADVERTISEMENT