CBH Talk - Open Eyes: Banned Books, Kids, and the War on Reading
Across the country, school and public libraries are seeing a growing movement to ban books that bring racial and gender diversity to the page. In state after state, local community members, school boards and elected lawmakers are challenging the rights of children and young adults to read books like “Gender Queer” and “The 1619 Project.” Even a children’s biography of Rosa Parks has made a list of banned books. This growing national tension between young people’s rights to read what they want and adults restricting access based on views of ‘suitability’ is playing out right now in courtrooms and communities nationwide. The battle pulls back the curtain on critical questions: How are library books chosen? What can rightfully be deemed obscene? What are readers’ First Amendment protections? What are parents’ rights? Join Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the National ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Projects who is currently involved in numerous banned book cases; Linda Johnson, president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library which has taken a bold stand on the issue of intellectual freedom with its Books Unbanned initiative; Jeffrey Blair, co-owner of a Missouri African American-themed children’s bookstore providing free copies of banned books to state residents; and Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services for the NYC Department of Education, to explore this urgent topic. Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who has written extensively on the subject, moderates.
This is a Banned Books Week event.
Participants
Jeffrey Blair is founder and co-owner of the Eyeseeme African American Children’s Bookstore in University City, MO. While raising four children, he and his wife Pamela opened Eyeseemee in response to the dearth of children’s books that feature African Americans as heroes, victors, founders, creators, and contributors to society. The store's mission to be a resource to parents, teachers, and schools in providing the very best children’s books on the market that promote positive images and stories about African American culture and history. Earlier this year Eyeseemee, in partnership with In Purpose Educational Services (IPES), launched a Banned Book program which provides free copies of challenged books to state residents who request them.
Joshua Block is a staff attorney with the National ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Projects. Josh’s litigation docket covers a wide range of issues, including employment discrimination, attempts to use religion to discriminate, access to healthcare for transgender people, military service, and censorship and free speech. He is lead counsel in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board—the first federal court of appeals decision recognizing that Title IX protects the rights of transgender students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. In 2012, he was named one of the “Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40″ by the LGBT Bar Association. He has also served as a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School where he taught the school’s LGBT Rights Litigation Seminar. Josh is a graduate of Amherst College and of Yale Law School. He clerked for Judge Robert D. Sack on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Second Circuit.
Melissa Jacobs is the Director of Library Services for the NYC Department of Education/New York City School Library System. Melissa started her career as an elementary school librarian and then spent 14 years as the Coordinator for Library Services. Melissa has been named a 2022 EdWeek Leader to Learn From, Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and has contributed to School Library Journal, Knowledge Quest, Teacher Librarian, and School Library Connection.
Linda E. Johnson is president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), one of the nation’s most historic and innovative library systems. With 61-branches, BPL is the fifth largest library system in the country and the ninth largest cultural institution in New York, operating with an annual budget of $150 million while serving 2.7 million residents. Linda has overseen its transformation from an analog to technologically adept library, working with elected officials, private foundations, and library stakeholders to ensure underserved and underrepresented communities have access to knowledge on every platform. Prior to joining BPL in 2011, Linda served as president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, CEO of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, and president of JCI Data. Currently, Linda sits on the boards of Hamilton College, Sing for Hope, and the Curtis Institute of Music. She is also an advisory director on the board of the Metropolitan Opera.
Hannah Natanson is a reporter covering K-12 Education for The Washington Post. For the past two years, she has reported on the education culture wars — the roiling debates over what and how teachers should teach about U.S. history, race, racism, gender identity and sexuality — as well as nationwide efforts to ban books and alter how schoolchildren access literature. She graduated from Harvard in 2019 and was part of a Washington Post team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News in 2020, as well as a Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2022.
Across the country, school and public libraries are seeing a growing movement to ban books that bring racial and gender diversity to the page. In state after state, local community members, school boards and elected lawmakers are challenging the rights of children and young adults to read books like “Gender Queer” and “The 1619 Project.” Even a children’s biography of Rosa Parks has made a list of banned books. This growing national tension between young people’s rights to read what they want and adults restricting access based on views of ‘suitability’ is playing out right now in courtrooms and communities nationwide. The battle pulls back the curtain on critical questions: How are library books chosen? What can rightfully be deemed obscene? What are readers’ First Amendment protections? What are parents’ rights? Join Joshua Block, a staff attorney with the National ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Projects who is currently involved in numerous banned book cases; Linda Johnson, president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library which has taken a bold stand on the issue of intellectual freedom with its Books Unbanned initiative; Jeffrey Blair, co-owner of a Missouri African American-themed children’s bookstore providing free copies of banned books to state residents; and Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services for the NYC Department of Education, to explore this urgent topic. Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who has written extensively on the subject, moderates.
This is a Banned Books Week event.
Participants
Jeffrey Blair is founder and co-owner of the Eyeseeme African American Children’s Bookstore in University City, MO. While raising four children, he and his wife Pamela opened Eyeseemee in response to the dearth of children’s books that feature African Americans as heroes, victors, founders, creators, and contributors to society. The store's mission to be a resource to parents, teachers, and schools in providing the very best children’s books on the market that promote positive images and stories about African American culture and history. Earlier this year Eyeseemee, in partnership with In Purpose Educational Services (IPES), launched a Banned Book program which provides free copies of challenged books to state residents who request them.
Joshua Block is a staff attorney with the National ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Projects. Josh’s litigation docket covers a wide range of issues, including employment discrimination, attempts to use religion to discriminate, access to healthcare for transgender people, military service, and censorship and free speech. He is lead counsel in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board—the first federal court of appeals decision recognizing that Title IX protects the rights of transgender students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. In 2012, he was named one of the “Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40″ by the LGBT Bar Association. He has also served as a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School where he taught the school’s LGBT Rights Litigation Seminar. Josh is a graduate of Amherst College and of Yale Law School. He clerked for Judge Robert D. Sack on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Second Circuit.
Melissa Jacobs is the Director of Library Services for the NYC Department of Education/New York City School Library System. Melissa started her career as an elementary school librarian and then spent 14 years as the Coordinator for Library Services. Melissa has been named a 2022 EdWeek Leader to Learn From, Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and has contributed to School Library Journal, Knowledge Quest, Teacher Librarian, and School Library Connection.
Linda E. Johnson is president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), one of the nation’s most historic and innovative library systems. With 61-branches, BPL is the fifth largest library system in the country and the ninth largest cultural institution in New York, operating with an annual budget of $150 million while serving 2.7 million residents. Linda has overseen its transformation from an analog to technologically adept library, working with elected officials, private foundations, and library stakeholders to ensure underserved and underrepresented communities have access to knowledge on every platform. Prior to joining BPL in 2011, Linda served as president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, CEO of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, and president of JCI Data. Currently, Linda sits on the boards of Hamilton College, Sing for Hope, and the Curtis Institute of Music. She is also an advisory director on the board of the Metropolitan Opera.
Hannah Natanson is a reporter covering K-12 Education for The Washington Post. For the past two years, she has reported on the education culture wars — the roiling debates over what and how teachers should teach about U.S. history, race, racism, gender identity and sexuality — as well as nationwide efforts to ban books and alter how schoolchildren access literature. She graduated from Harvard in 2019 and was part of a Washington Post team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News in 2020, as well as a Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2022.