I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Some library news, an autobiography steeped in racial overtones, crimes against children and sex, and then a little alien abduction in the library.
Banned
1983 - Alabama State Textbook Committee because the work preaches "bitterness and hatred against whites."
1987 - Raleigh, North Carolina because of complaints about and eight-year-old gets raped
1988 - Strong, Maine for rape
1990 - Bremerton, Washington for the "graphic" depiction of molestation
1991 - Banning, California after parents complained about child molestation and rape
1992 - Pleasanton, California for sexually explicit language
1993
Haines City High School, Florida library and English curriculum for rape of an eight year old
Columbus, Mississippi as "too sexually explicit to be read by children"
Hooks High School, Texas
1994
Castle Rock, Colorado because it is a "lurid tale of sexual perversion"
Des Moines, Iowa after a parent objected to inappropriately explicit sexual scenes
Austin, Texas because "the book is pornographic, contains profanity, and encourages premarital sex and homosexuality." Children required parental permission.
1995
Gilbert Unified School, Arizona after parents complained it did not represent "traditional values"
Volusia County County Schools, Florida because "It is sexually explicit and promotes cohabitation and rape"
Caddo Parish, Louisiana because of books language and objectionable content. Students petitioned and demonstrated and got it reinstated.
Hendersonville, Beech High School, Tennessee
Danforth High School, Wimberley, Texas
Southlake, Carroll School, Texas deemed it "pornographic" and full of "gross evils"
1996
Moulton, Alabama by School Superintendent, who decided "the poet's descriptions of being raped as a little girl were pornographic."
Round Rock Independent High School, Texas for being too violent.
1997
Folsom Cordova School District, California for containing sexually explicit passages
Wayne County High School, Georgia for the novel's sexual explicitness
Richfield High School, Minnesota for being too explicit
Turrentine Middle School, North Carolina where parents complained of profanity and sexual references
Union Township, Ohio for description of rape at age eight and other sexual content
Mukilteo, Washington for being sexually explicit
1998
Brooksville, Florida for passage about author's rape at age eight and sexual content
Anne Arundel County, Maryland after parents complained the book "portrays white people as being horrible, nasty, stupid people - if a child didn't have negative feelings about white people, this could sow the seeds." Challenge overridden after sexually explicit complaints.
Alamance, North Carolina
1999 - Unity Elementary School, New Hampshire for being "too sexually explicit."
2000 - Poolesville High School, Maryland for sexual content and language
2002
Montana for underage sex, rape, and homosexuality
Fairfax County, Virginia by Parents Against Bad Books in Schools for profanity, drugs, explicit sexual content, and torture.
2006
Annapolis, Maryland for rape scenes and being too mature for age group
Fond du Lac High School, Wisconsin for underage rape and unwanted pregnancy
2007
Coeur d'Alene School District, Idaho
Manheim Township, Pennsylvania for sexual references
2009
California
Ocean View School District for being inappropriate for children
Newman-Crows Landing School District after a trustee questioned staff qualifications to teach a novel depicting African American culture.
2016 - Illinois - Parents and residents wished it be removed from Lemont High School due to sexual content. The school board said the students could read other books in place.
Sources
Doyle, Robert P. "66. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read. American Library Association, 2014. pg 98-99
"Dances and Dames"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0