Book Banning and Educational Gag Orders

Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes

Historical Context

While book bans in the United States may seem new, this is actually a century-old trend in our public schools. These “educational gag orders,” which are government limits put on topics of teaching and learning, have been seen in various iterations. They started in the 1920s with a new set of social studies textbooks created by Harold Rugg. The textbooks were designed to “lead students to think critically about the most difficult questions in American history, including racism and inequality.” 

This invitation to cultivate critical thinking skills in students led to fear among American conservatives in the 1930s who were worried about how children would learn that “U.S. history was not only a story of greatness but a story of struggle.” Instead of embracing the idea that children would learn the complexities of the United States, and would then be inspired to create a country that truely ensures liberty and justice for all, the books were censored. And the formula for book banning of school books was created: create “moral panic,” create a narrative that these books were “unpatriotic” and caused “division,” used coded language that is rooted in racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc., and have parents speak out against the book even when they have never read them. 

Woman protests books in Kanawha County,West Virginia in 1974, AP Photo

What’s the saying about history repeating itself?

This book banning formula was recreated in the post Brown vs Board of Education era after the integration of public schools. The book ban battle in Kanawha County, West Virginia in 1974 even turned violent, with members of the neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan marching and burning crosses. Into the last part of the 20th century, the narratives continued. In an opinion piece prior to becoming second lady of the United States, Lynne Cheney rallied against social studies standards that included an accurate examination of United States history, feeling that the new standards may put the United States in an unfavorable light.

In addition to outright banning curriculum and books, the school curriculum has been historically influenced by white supremacist groups. For example, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group formed to preserve the memory of the Confederacy, shaped United States history textbooks for students, especially in the South, for most of the 20th century. Generations of children were taught a censored version of American history that minimized the trauma of the experiences of Indigenous genocide and enslaved Black people, and erased the contributions and innovation of BIPOC, LGBTQ and disabled people. 

In 2022, we are seeing the same narrative and formula continue with a 21st century twist. Create chaos about content being taught, or not being taught (as the case with Critical Race Theory), label curriculum and books as “divisive,” claim we are a “colorblind” society, rally around “parental rights,” use coded homophobic and transphobic language of “obscene” and “grooming” to describe books that affirm LGBTQ youth.

Is this really “parents’ rights” or something bigger?

While we may be hearing a narrative claiming “parents’ rights,” what many of those parents involved in book banning and educational gag order efforts do not understand is that they are actually doing the bidding of corporations and national think tanks determined to advance this extremist, national agenda. 

Some of these include Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund (bankrolled by Koch), Manhattan Institute, Goldwater Institute, No Left Turn in Education, Parents Defending Education, Moms for Liberty, 1776 Project PAC, The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR), and the Independence Institute (and this is not an exhaustive list). If some of these names sound familiar, it is because they have had previous ties with the Reformers of the previous decade in DCSD and have current influences in DCSD. To read more about their influences, check out these pieces from NPR, The Guardian, and Salon.

Ralph Wilson who co-authored Free Speech and Koch Money and co-founded the Corporate Genome Project says this about the intentions of these outside groups, "They view critical inquiry, free inquiry that's done in the academy as a threat to their wealth, they see it as a threat to the future of capitalism and free enterprise in this country. The end political agenda that's being served doesn't actually help those parents that are involved in it. It doesn't actually help those children. It helps a larger political movement that's trying to capture the culture and ultimately capture the state."

Let’s be clear; none of these educational gag orders or book banning efforts are about protecting kids. They are about protecting the status quo of the most privileged in the United States.

So how does banning books fulfill a national, extremist agenda?

In order to answer that, we need to look at the context of the curriculum materials and fiction and non-fiction books of what is being banned/flagged as “dangerous.” The books that are most frequently banned are inclusive and affirming of BIPOC and LGBTQ identities and/or are texts that have an accurate and inclusive history of the United States. Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, reflects on this national agenda, “Our population is changing. We’re becoming an increasingly pluralistic society, along so many different dimensions and there’s this fierce backlash trying to kind of yank it in the other direction, with the notion that we’re somehow restoring some great path that’s been lost.”

One book that is consistently targeted in this current effort is The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, by author Nicole Hannah-Jones. What originally started as a long-term journalism project with The New York Times, was released in book form in 2021. Jones says this about the intention behind the efforts to ban books: “This is actually trying to control the collective memory of this country, and trying to say we just want to purge uncomfortable truths from our collective memory. And that’s very dangerous.”

In his book The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person, currently the target of many banned books lists, author Frederick Joseph captures the positive power his book can have, “That’s what makes this book special. It’s an opportunity to learn, grow, and share, where many may otherwise never have the chance.”

That is the real issue with the efforts to target books like Joseph’s; these books create an opportunity for our children to learn about the beauty of the diversity of our lived experiences. These books create frameworks for understanding, empathy, and compassion, and the opportunity for our children to grow into humans who will challenge the oppressive structures of the status quo, truly seeking liberty and justice for all.