[2] Alabama's State Library Agency director, Emily Wheelock Reed, faced censorship challenges over the book at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the American South.

[4] The White Citizens Council of Montgomery, Alabama, attacked the book, claiming that it promoted interracial marriage in defiance of the laws against miscegenation.

[2] During an interview with The New York Times in 1959, Williams said, "[The Rabbits' Wedding] was not written for adults who will not understand it, because it is only about a soft, furry love and has no hidden messages of hate."

Williams denied that his story, intended for children ages 3 to 7, was a purposeful anecdote of racial integration.

"[2] A play about the censorship controversy, titled Alabama Story, was written by Kenneth Jones and first staged in 2015.