Banned Books Syllabus

Book bans and challenges are nothing new; however, over the past few years, with the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation and “anti-woke” rhetoric that has led to various bills against the teaching of “divisive concepts,” these bans and challenges have increased dramatically. Of course, as PEN American points out, “Black and LGBTQ+ authors and books about race, racism, and LGBTQ identities have been disproportionately affected in the book bans documented by PEN America in the last year and a half.” When Georgia joined various other states by passing a “divisive concepts” bill, I wrote to my legislator pointing out that such a bill would go against the Georgia standards because teacher’s couldn’t even teach Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Course Overview

In a 1971 review of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, the reviewer writes about the importance of Morrison’s debut novel, pointing out that while “The Bluest Eye may not be the fiction find of the year, nor the best first novel ever published; it is, however, a sympathetic and moving portrayal of human beings caught in the age-old webs of prejudice and hate, and for this alone it deserves to be read.” The reviewer compares Morrison’s novel to Richard Wright’s 1945 autobiography Black Boy, claiming that it is “a significant addition to the rising tide of black…