A Brief History of Book Banning in the US

It seems that as long as there was written literature, there was bans and censorship. But first let’s explain what a book ban or censorship is. Per the Middle Tennessee State University’s First Amendment Encyclopedia defines book banning as “a form of censorship, occurs when private individuals, government officials, or organizations remove books from libraries, school reading lists, or bookstore shelves because they object to their content, ideas, or themes. Those advocating a ban complain typically that the book in question contains graphic violence, expresses disrespect for parents and family, is sexually explicit, exalts evil, lacks literary merit, is unsuitable for a particular age group, or includes offensive language.” Book Banning | The First Amendment Encyclopedia (mtsu.edu)

The oldest ban in the United States dates as far back as 1637, on Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan. The local Puritan government in an area that is now known as Quincy, Massachusetts and they were upset about Morton’s harsh criticisms on their power structure inside their government. History of Book Banning – Banned Books – Research Guides at Harvard Library

The most recent book bans target literature geared towards children and young adults. The biggest opposition to these bans heralds the US’s First Amendment, the Freedom of Speech, to declare such bans as unconstitutional. This often ends with court cases, and there are many. The most notable is Board of Education v. Pico (1982), where the “Supreme Court ruled in the students’ favor on First Amendment grounds, holding that the right to read is implied by the First Amendment. The government—in this case, a public school—cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of that speech.” Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982) – Bill of Rights Institute