Update at 12:34PM on October 22: The library met today and reversed their decision. The catalog already reflects the change! Instead of jF Coo, the shelf number is J974.004 Coo.
As news media reports on the change, I'll be back to update as needed.
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What is going on with Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs?
Published at approximately 9:45AM on October 22, 2024; updated at 12:34PM on October 22, 2024.
On October 8, colleagues wrote to let me know that a public library in Texas had made a decision to remove Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag) from the juvenile nonfiction shelves to the fiction shelves. I joined efforts to write a letter objecting to that decision and I added the book to my log of Native-authored books that have been challenged or banned.
Colonization and the Wampanoag Story came out in 2023 from Crown Books for Young Readers, which is an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Here's the book description:
Until now, you've only heard one side of the story: the "discovery" of America told by Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists. Here's the true story of America from the Indigenous perspective.
When you think about the beginning of the American story, what comes to mind? Three ships in 1492, or perhaps buckled hats and shoes stepping off of the Mayflower, ready to start a new country. But the truth is, Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists didn't arrive to a vast, empty land ready to be developed. They arrived to find people and communities living in harmony with the land they had inhabited for thousands of years, and they quickly disrupted everything they saw.
From its "discovery" by Europeans to the first Thanksgiving, the story of America's earliest days has been carefully misrepresented. Told from the perspective of the New England Indigenous Nations that these outsiders found when they arrived, this is the true story of how America as we know it today began.
I've followed and recommended Coombs's work for years. She has done excellent work over many decades, as a tribal historian for the Aquinnah Wampanoag and in writings through which she tries to help teachers create educational materials. I read her book last year and included it in our annual Best Books list.
The decision to recategorize the book was taken by the "Citizens Review Committee" that is appointed by the county commissioner. When initially formed, that committee had five citizens and five librarians, but in March of 2024, Montgomery County officials decided the librarians could no longer weigh in on reviews of children's and young adult books that residents had challenged. Why they removed the librarians is not clear to me. Professional training in book selection was essentially set aside in favor of "common sense" of the local community (see Montgomery County Adopts Citizen-Led Library Book Review Policy for use of the phrase "common sense."
Montgomery County Memorial Library System is in Texas, north of Houston. That system includes 7 different locations. Yesterday morning when I went to their catalog and entered the book title, this is what I saw:
In the first column are the names of the libraries that have a copy. The second column is "Material Type" where each library has it listed as "Juvenile books, circulating." The third column, "Shelf Number" for all the libraries is "jF Coo" which means juvenile Fiction, Coombs. In the 4th column, "Status" you see "Material being cataloged" at five libraries. From what I've read in news reports, the libraries had to complete the move by October 17, which was 5 days ago. I assume "material being cataloged" means librarians are working on moving the book, changing the information in the catalog, and doing all that needs doing in order to keep track of books in a catalog.
Here's a fact based on my experience:
A lot of people in the United States don't know we (Native peoples) exist anymore. I've read accounts in which someone says "there's no Indians here" and that books or educational materials about them are not needed in this or that location.
A lot of people in the United States don't know we (Native peoples) exist anymore. I've read accounts in which someone says "there's no Indians here" and that books or educational materials about them are not needed in this or that location.
But here's the thing: we are here, in spite of all that was done over hundreds of years to get rid of us. Did you know, for example, that L. Frank Baum (he wrote The Wizard of Oz) wrote an editorial calling for "the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians." Books by Native writers ought to be in every school and public library. There are more, today, than ever before. When libraries choose to put our nonfiction books in the fiction section, they are continuing efforts to remove us from existence. There's obvious harm to Native kids who look for books that accurately reflect who we are, but there's harm to non-Native kids, too. They'll grow up, mis-educated, and may apply that misinformation to the work they do as adults.
Why, exactly, did the Citizens Review Committee in Texas make this decision?
News media states the thinking behind the decision to reclassify the book is not available to the public. I hope reporters will press for the information.
My guess is that when the committee received a request that Colonization and the Wampanoag be reviewed, they started by looking at the cover and the table of contents. They saw that Coombs structured the book by alternating chapters in an unusual way. Let me explain.
In the book, there is an Introduction, thirteen chapters, an Epilogue, Resources for Young Readers, and a Bibliography. Here's a screen capture of the Table of Contents for my e-copy:
The Introduction is in plain font. Here's a key paragraph:
The book starts with a story, "When Life Was Our Own," which describes Wampanoag life before any European contact. The story was created to relate traditional Wampanoag culture, beliefs, practices, and values based on our oral traditions and research done over many years. There are no written sources of these early times, due to the processes of colonization described in the other parts of the book. An understanding of precontact life brings clarity to the impacts of colonization on Indigenous people.
Chapter 1, "When Life Was Our Own: Spring and the Time of the New Year" is in italics. Here's a paragraph from there:
Little Bird felt a slight breeze on her face and the sudden warmth of the morning sun, bidding her to open her eyes to a new day. Her body resisted rousing from the warm furs of the bed. Maybe just one more snuggle before getting up! Just yesterday, her family and many others had moved from the winter home to their summer cornfields. Sachem Corn Tassel, the leader of their village, had Little Bird's family return to the same field they'd planted in last year.
Chapter 2, "Creating Colonies: More than a New Place to Live" is in plain font. Its subtitle is "Some Background Information and Context (Never forget the Context!)." It starts with this paragraph:
This section will discuss three episodes in history that occurred before 1620. These paved the way for the Pilgrims to settle in America. They are the Doctrine of Discovery; the impacts of Christopher Columbus's voyages; and the PPP--Pre-Pilgrim Patterns--which happened along coastal southern New England.
Chapter 3, "When Life Was Our Own: Summer--Tending to Corn Mother" is in italics, and chapter 4, "PPP: Pre-Pilgrim Patterns" is in plain font. That pattern continues throughout the book.
In her book, Coombs uses storytelling, or the oral tradition. Is that why the committee decided her book is fiction? Storytelling/oral tradition is a technique that Native people use to pass information from one generation to the next. Coombs uses it to provide a Native perspective on the history the book focuses on. Using that technique she invites readers to be with a Native family, and then in the next chapter she gives readers the information typically found in textbooks.
I think it is a terrific model.
And it isn't an unfamiliar one! On Twitter/X, the librarian who writes using ReadingDanger as their name pointed to several books categorized as nonfiction that someone might say 'hey, that's not nonfiction!' One example is the Magic School Bus series. Information in those outstanding books is conveyed by Ms. Frizzle and the kids in her class. A quick look at the catalog tells me those books are cataloged as nonfiction.
Below I'm providing links to items I've read. I'll add additional links as I can, and additional thoughts as they develop. For starters? I think the book ought to be moved back to the nonfiction section of the library.
October 11, 2024
"American History from an Indigenous Perspective:: Nonfiction or Fiction?" from the Texas Freedom to Read Project.
October 14, 2024
Texas county sidelines librarians, reclassifies book on abuse of Native Americans as "fiction" by Judd Legum at Popular Information.
Houston-area library moves Indigenous history book to fiction section at Lonestar Live.
October 16, 2024
Letter to the Montgomery County Commission, signed by American Indians in Children's Literature, and the American Indian Library Association, available at PEN America.
October 18, 2024
Texas county labels Native American history book a work of fiction, sparking outrage at the San Antonio Current.
October 19, 2024
October 20, 2024
Attacks on People's Stories are Attacks on People. Just Ask a Librarian at Forward Times is an interview with ALA President, Cindy Hohl (Santee Sioux Nation) who has also served as President of the American Indian Library Association.
October 21, 2024
