Book banning in the United States (2021–present)
Unlike most book challenges in the past, whereby parents or other stakeholders in the community would engage teachers and school administrators in a debate over a title, local groups have received support from conservative advocacy organizations working to nationalize the efforts focused on certain subjects.
Journalists, academics, librarians, and others commonly link the coordinated, often well-funded book challenges to other reactionary efforts to restrict what students should learn about systemic bias and the history of the United States.
Hundreds of books have been challenged, including high-profile examples like Maus by Art Spiegelman, New Kid by Jerry Craft, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
[8][10] On January 24, 2025, the Trump Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed 11 cases regarding challenged books in schools and eliminated an oversight position for investigating such issues.
[20] The New York Times reported in January 2022 that "parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades".
[25] Conservative organizations, activists, and politicians have driven many of the challenges, and they have operated through higher-level political processes than usual, proposing legislation and petitioning lawmakers rather than just teachers or local school boards.
[27] Several of the challenges have begun with lists of books shared online by conservative advocacy organizations like No Left Turn in Education and Moms for Liberty.
The groups swarm school board meetings, inundate districts with time-consuming public records requests and file lawsuits and federal complaints alleging discrimination against white students.
[19][29] According to University of Massachusetts political science professor Maurice T. Cunningham, the parents' rights groups are "highly networked into The Daily Caller, Breitbart [and] Fox News".
[29] In 2020, the murder of George Floyd and other unarmed Black Americans by law enforcement led to widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
[30] These laws, which use broad language prohibiting teaching about privilege related to race or sex, or systemic bias in the United States, have led to many book removals.
[20] As a response to the increasing number of book bans and challenges targeting LGBT materials, the Queer Liberation Library formed in 2023 to provide digital access for anyone residing in the United States.
The coordinator will train and advise school districts on how book restrictions may violate federal civil rights laws by creating hostile environments for students.
[19] Several commentators argued it is hypocritical for conservative pundits and politicians to support banning books that may make students feel uncomfortable after a period of strongly criticizing "cancel culture".
[50] Angela Haupt of The Washington Post also noted efforts by Democratic politicians and liberal parents to ban books for containing racist language, racial slurs and "white savior" characters, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men.
[53] In August 2020, a diversity committee in the school district for central York County, Pennsylvania, created a reading list for students and community members amid the George Floyd protests.
Though it was intended as a guide for students to learn about issues of race, diversity, and culture, the school board used it as a list of books to remove, voting to "freeze" them a few months later.
The list included a wide range of fiction and non-fiction bestsellers and award-winners like The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall.
[72] The president of the Texas State Teachers Association called it a "witch hunt" and a "disturbing and political overreach into the classroom" which raises legal concerns.
The graphic novel, which won the 2020 Kirkus Prize, Newbury Medal, and Coretta Scot King Award, is about a 12-year-old black boy who experiences culture shock when he enrolls at a private school.
[73][20] The person who began the petition, who also sued the school district over a mask mandate, said she heard Craft talking about "microaggressions" in interviews, which she said indicated an ideology related to critical race theory.
The board cited "tough language" and "unnecessary" profanity (eight words, including "damn"), a small drawing of a (nude) cat representing a woman, and mentions of murder, violence, and suicide.
[81][82][83] A bookstore in Tennessee offered to give a free copy of The Complete Maus to any student who requested one, leading them to create a GoFundMe campaign to cover the demand.
[91] Books restricted included A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, and In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco.
[91] A mayor in Ridgeland, Mississippi denied $110,000 in funding to the Madison County Public Library System that had already been approved by the city's board of aldermen.
According to Tonja Jackson, the executive director of the library, the mayor declared that he would not release the funds until all of those books were removed, citing his personal religious beliefs.
[101] This committee contained two representatives from each of the nine current Hamilton County school districts in which each member was invited to share their thoughts and views on the policy and how it should be changed.
[101] The committee was formed after School Board Chairman Tucker McClendon introduced the idea[102] and it was agreed to be led by District 1 representative Rhonda Thurman.
[116] Idaho HB710, signed into law in April 2024, requires school and public libraries to move materials deemed harmful to minors to an adults-only section, allowing community members who object to a book to sue for $250 in damages.
[117][118] In February 2025, Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit along with several other publishers, a library district, the Authors Guild, a teacher, students, and parents, saying the law is overly vague and violates the First Amendment.
