New York Public Library combating book bans with new exhibition
Sahara Briscoe is an artist, educator, and a fierce advocate for book access in schools and libraries.
Just like Briscoe, the New York Public Library has never been shy about its stance on book bans, and one of its latest initiatives explores the history of book bans in the United States. At the Stephen Schwarzman Building in Manhattan, visitors can check out the censorship display in the Polonsky Exhibition Room.
Lori Ziegler, a library visitor looking at the display, said, “I teach in a fairly conservative county in California and we’ve had book bannings, so seeing the public library highlight these books that have been banned in the past is just really inspiring.”
But you don’t have to travel to the Midtown location to learn about the book bans of the past.
In September, NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools published an exhibition and curriculum guide that anyone can access online. The program is titled “Reading Dangerously: Censorship and the Freedom to Read in 20th-Century America.”
Emily Brooks, an NYPL curriculum writer and historian, helped create “Reading Dangerously.”
“We were hoping that students and educators would use the library’s incredible archival collections to help them contextualize and understand what they’re living through today,” she said.
Organizations like PEN America also advocate against censorship in schools.
But in January, President Trump issued an executive order to pull government funding from K-12 school programs that promote what he calls ‘gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.’
Like the New York Public Library, PEN America believes that teaching students about the history of censorship can empower them to fight it today.
Sabrina Baeta, a program manager at PEN America, said, “These reason we have this information available is People like us, everyday people, stood up and fought for that information to be available, for us to actually progress as a society.”
Both the physical and online exhibitions are ongoing for anyone to peruse.
Lauren hails from Long Island, NY and got her first taste of journalism as a food writer at Washington University in St. Louis. She previously worked as a teacher and now covers education for City Newsroom.