Last year, Missouri lawmakers banned sexually explicit material, and public school libraries confiscated hundreds of books.
Book bans, fueled by state legislation backed by conservative authorities and groups, are piling up at an alarming rate, and 1st Amendment supporters are sounding the alarm in public school districts and campus libraries across the United States.
Thousands of Books Banned in Some States of the US
There were 1,477 instances of individual books prohibited during the first half of the 2022-23 school year, the organization reported on April 20.
This amounted to 874 unique titles, or over 100 books banned each month.
PEN America defines a book ban as the permanent or temporary restriction of access to an otherwise legally available book.
Over 4.2 million kids in 182 school districts across 37 states have been affected by book bans since the organization began keeping track in July 2021. This includes 2,253 unique titles.
The majority of these prohibitions have taken place in states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina.
According to PEN America’s research, 438 restrictions were lifted in Texas school districts.
The state with the most bans was Florida with 357, followed by Missouri with 315.
There were more than a hundred prohibitions in both Utah and South Carolina.
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Most Book Removal Campaigns have Parental Support
Historically, most initiatives to remove books off shelves have originated with parents. Researchers did notice a change between the 2021–2022 school year and the 2022–2023 school year, though: more bans were enacted by lawmakers.
Missouri passed legislation prohibiting the distribution of sexually explicit materials to minors in schools, both public and private, with penalties including imprisonment and monetary fines.
A bill to prevent publishers from delivering sexually explicit books to schools was co-sponsored in February by Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos.
At a news conference in March 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely projected to run for president in 2024, criticized what he called “pornographic” content in school textbooks.
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