The Little Free(dom) Libraries announced that they’ll be honoring Women’s History Month by adding two banned books by women authors.
Along with “Front Desk” by Kelly Yang, the group will be making “Feminism is For Everybody” by Bell Hooks available for young readers at approximately 14 locations.
The newest additions added to celebrate Women’s History Month bring the total up to 1,500 available books. All of these titles have previously been targeted by legislators and banned in conservative states.
Initiated during Black History Month last month, the Little Freed(dom) Library was created by Visit Philadelphia in collaboration with Little Free Library. Through the program, books are purchased from Black-owned bookstores to support small Black-owned businesses. With the initiative, the nonprofits place emphasis on celebrating Black history.
“We take pride in celebrating Philadelphia as the cradle of liberty, while also recognizing the complexity of its history,” said Angela Val, the president and CEO of Visit Philadelphia. “We want travelers and residents to know that in Philadelphia, Black history is American history, and Black stories are worth telling and sharing.”
The support for banned books comes amidst conversive efforts to remove more books from school education systems.
According to nonprofit organization PEN America, from the 2022-2023 school year, there were approximately 3,362 book bans put into place, banning approximately 1,550 different titles.
A majority of the book bans reportedly came from Florida’s education system; approximately 40% of schools that had put restrictions on reading content were in Florida.
Earlier this year, the Escambia County School in the state announced that they’ll be removing more than 1,600 books from the shelves to put them up for review. Five dictionaries and eight encyclopedias are part of the books that are facing potential removal.
The district’s reasoning behind the potential book ban is that they might not be in compliance with Florida’s latest law that bans books with sexual content.
In states like West Virginia, legislators are weighing a bill that charges librarians and museums with a felony and up to $25,000 in fines if they’re found guilty of violating this law.
According to officials like the American Library Association, the latest law creates grounds for censorship as books about race, politics and the LBGBTQ+ community are the ones most targeted with obscenity allegations.
Conservatives have already successfully banned classic literature such as Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and James Baldwin’s “Go Tell It On The Mountain” along with newer titles by Black authors, including Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give.”
