Banning of Native Voices/Books

Banning of Native Voices/Books

Date this log was launched: April 24, 2023 

Last update: May 18, 2023

The year is 2023. 

People continue to take from Native peoples and Native Nations. It started with our lands and our children. It included efforts to destroy our nationhood and cultures by making it illegal for us to speak our languages and tell our stories and practice our religions. 

We persevered. 

In recent years more and more of us are being published. Through books, we are using our voices, telling our stories to our children and yours, too, in pre-school and kindergarten story times and in high school classrooms. 

But now, our books--our voices--are being removed from libraries and classrooms. 

I have no doubt we will, again, persevere. 

It is important to document what is happening. Today (April 24, 2023), I am starting a log of books by Native writers that are challenged or banned. First, some basic info. 

A challenge is when someone asks that a book be removed. Historically, the book remains on the shelf (available) until a review or hearing takes place. 

A ban is when a challenge is successful and a book is removed from the shelf. 

Sometimes a ban occurs before a book is put on the shelf or made available to children. Confused? I have two cases in mind. Sometimes books are donated by individuals or organizations. The second case is about books a district purchases as part of a curriculum for use in classrooms. In those two cases, a person or persons challenges the book(s) before they are made available. An individual or committee is asked to review the books and they are, by default, not available. Is that a ban? We could discuss that, but my point is this: the book is not available. 

If your district or library (or one you know about) has banned a book by a Native writer, let me know! And if you know of a challenge to a Native book or if a book has been removed from availability and is undergoing "review," I'd like to know that, too. 

Books are listed by title, arranged alphabetically by Native author/illustrator's name and their tribal nation, and the date I add them to the log. Titles are followed by bulleted details and a link to my source of information (for some books, you will see that bulleted details are alike from one title to the next because challenges/bans are often to more than one book in a single school). 

I am focusing on books by Native writers. PEN America has a more extensive list for July 1, 2022 thru December 31, 2022 and another for July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 but it does not include some of the books I list below. The amount of work to track books that are being banned is tremendous. 

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Thunder Boy Jr. written by Sherman Alexie (enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians). [Date added to log: 4/28/2023]. 

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie (enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians). [Date added to log: 4/28/2023]

• Challenged in Indian River County Schools, Fort Pierce, Florida in 2021. It appears on a list of 156 books challenged by Moms for Liberty. The objection includes an excerpt from the chapter "Because Geometry Is Not A Country Somewhere Near France" where the character is talking about masturbation. The books were reviewed by a committee. In reading the local news reports, it is unclear to me if the books were withheld while under review. After the review, five books were removed. It is not amongst the books that were removed. Sources: Hometown News and Sebastian Daily.   
• Challenged in Escambia County Public Schools, Florida in 2022. The challenge was made by Vicki Baggett, the language arts teacher at Northview High School. On the form she submitted, her reasons for objecting to it are "racism; bullying; crude language; violence". After review, the committee placed it on "Restricted" status and voted to make it available in middle school as an "opt-in" title. Students who wish to read it must present an "opt in" form signed by a parent. Source: Pensacola News. [This entry added to log on May 17, 2023]
• PEN America's 2021-2022 index lists several other places where it is banned or challenged. As time permits we will research news media for details. Lee County Schools, Florida in March of 2022; Santa Rosa County District Schools, Florida in April of 2022; St. Lucie Public Schools, Florida in January 2022; Walton County School District, Florida in April 2022; Forsyth County Schools, Georgia in January 2022; Nampa School District, Idaho in May of 2022; Ankeny Community School District, Iowa, in November of 2021; Derby Public Schools, Kansas in November of 2021; Goddard Public Schools, Kansas in November of 2021; Gladwin Community Schools, Michigan in May of 2022; Madison County Schools, Mississippi in April of 2022; Bristow Public Schools, Oklahoma in October of 2021; Fredericksburg Independent School District, Texas in March of 2022. [This entry added to log on May 18, 2023.]
• PEN America's Fall 2022 index lists places where it is banned or challenged. As time permits we will research news media for details. Flagler, Florida in Oct of 2022; Highlands School District, Florida, in Sept of 2022; Pleasant Valley District, Pennsylvania; July 2022; Frisco Independent District, Texas in Sept 2022. [This entry added to log on May 18, 2023.]
• A site called "BookLooks.org" was established to "write and collect detailed and easy to understand book content reviews centered around objectionable content, including profanity, nudity, and sexual conduct." For Alexie's book, their "Summary of Concerns" is that "This book contains inexplicit sexual nudity, inflammatory racial commentary; references to racism; and profanity." In their review, the content they list that I think is what they would consider "inflammatory racial commentary" or "references to racism" are as follows [This entry added log on May 19, 2023]:
• Page 12: "And what's more, our white dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much pain as white people did, so he only gave us half the Novocain."
• Page 62: "During one week when I was little, Dad got stopped three times for DWI: Driving While Indian."
• Page 73: "The illustration on this page depicts a diagram of a young man split with "White" written on one side and "Indian" written on the other side. On the "White" side are the labels: "A BRIGHT FUTURE," "POSITIVE ROLE MODELS," "HOPE," "Ralph Lauren Shirt," "Ergonomic backpack (with cell phone)," "Timex wristwatch," "The latest Air Jordans,". On the "Indian" side there are labels: "A VANISHING PAST," "A FAMILY HISTORY OF DIABETES AND CANCER," "BONE-CRUSHING REALITY," "Kmart T-shirt," "Sears blue jeans 2 pairs for $19.99!)," "no watch (It's skin-thrifty!")," "Glad garbage book bag," "canvas tennis shoes (purchased in aisle 7 of Safeway supermarket)"
• Page 135: "Kid, if you get my daughter pregnant, if you make some charcoal babies, I'm going to disown her…"
• Page 143: "Well, this article said that over two hundred Mexican girls have disappeared in the last three years in that same part of the country. And nobody says much about that. And that's racist. They guy who wrote the article says people care more about beautiful white girls than they do about everybody else on the planet. White girls are privileged. They're damsels in distress." ..."I think it means you're just a racist asshole like everybody else."

Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army written by Art Coulson (Cherokee); illustrated by Nick Hardcastle (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms.

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe); illustrated by Michaela Goade (Tlingit). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in Northampton Pennsylvania Area School District in 2022. It was one of several books donated to the district by The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity, and bias. At a school board meeting, the books were characterized as "divisive," "racist," and "socialist." The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda. The board voted not to accept the donated books. Source: Marshall University Libraries in Huntington, West Virginia. 

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis (Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde); cover art by Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscogee). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 
• Banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review, a committee determined its content was not age appropriate and sent the book back to the company. Source: First Coast News.

Fry Bread by Kevin Maillard (Seminole); illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in Northampton Pennsylvania Area School District in 2022. It was one of several books donated to the district by The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity, and bias. At a school board meeting, the books were characterized as "divisive," "racist," and "socialist." The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda. The board voted not to accept the donated books. Source: Marshall University Libraries in Huntington, West Virginia. 
• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 
• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms. Source: First Coast News.

The People Shall Continue, written by Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo), illustrated by Sharol Graves (Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 

Fatty Legs written by Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton. [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms. Source: First Coast News.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, for Young People, by Debbie Reese (Nambé Owingeh) and Jean Mendoza (not Native), adapted from the original edition written by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in some libraries in Texas (such as McKinney Independent School District) when it was included on a list of 850 books compiled by Texas state Representative Matt Krause. Source: National Public Radio

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker written by Robbie Robertson (Mohawk), illustrated by David Shannon (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Banned in 2023 in Duval County, Florida. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning and as of 4/24/2023 is still under review by a committee that is reviewing books to see if the content is age appropriate. Source: First Coast News.

We Are Grateful written by by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by Frane Lessac (not Native). [Date added to log: 4/23/2023]

• Challenged in York, PA in 2021. It was included on an excellent list of books a diversity committee in the district created in 2020. Some parents feared the books would make white children feel guilty about their race or indoctrinate them. The district chose to "freeze" the books. It is unclear to me what that meant. Some news reports say the book list was frozen until the books could be reviewed. As far as I have found, some teachers already had them in the classroom and some libraries already had them available. I can find no reports of them being removed from their classrooms or libraries but there was definitely an effort to make them unavailable. According to a Sept 20, 2021 article in the York Daily Record, the freeze was lifted after about a year. 
• Banned in Northampton Pennsylvania Area School District in 2022. It was one of several books donated to the district by The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization that supports families and educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity, and bias. At a school board meeting, the books were characterized as "divisive," "racist," and "socialist." The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda. The board voted not to accept the donated books. Source: Marshall University Libraries in Huntington, West Virginia. 
• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms.

At the Mountains Base written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva, Cahuilla, Chumash, Spanish & Scottish). [Date added to log: 4/24/2023]

• Temporarily banned in Duval County, Florida in 2023. It is part of the "Essential Voices" curriculum available from Perfection Learning. After review a committee determined it could be used in classrooms. Source: First Coast News.

"The Way of the Anigiduwagi" written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation), illustrated by MaryBeth Timothy (Cherokee) in The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love and Truth edited by Cheryl and Wade Hudson. [Date added to log: 5/18/2023]

• A site called "BookLooks.org" was established to "write and collect detailed and easy to understand book content reviews centered around objectionable content, including profanity, nudity, and sexual conduct." For this book, their "Summary of Concerns" is that "This book contains controversial racial and social commentary; derogatory terms; and hate involving racism." In their review, they include:
• Page 30: Also, folks will say and do some pretty demeaning things while telling you that they are “honoring” Native people. Don’t buy it for a minute. We’re not mascots, products to be sold, or a spiritual belief system to be appropriated. All of this causes real damage through lower self-worth, abuse, violence, and trafficking of our people.