North Carolina school board to revisit 'Invisible Man' book ban
Source: Reuters
North Carolina school board to revisit 'Invisible Man' book ban
By Colleen Jenkins
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina | Wed Sep 25, 2013 3:20pm EDT
(Reuters) - A North Carolina school board is rethinking its ban of Ralph Ellison's heralded novel "Invisible Man" from school libraries after being ridiculed by residents and undercut by a giveaway of the book at a local bookstore on Wednesday.
The widely publicized vote by the Randolph County Board of Education in central North Carolina came after a high school junior's mother complained that the sexual content in the book chosen for a summer reading program was "not so innocent" and "too much for teenagers."
Five of the board's seven elected officials agreed on September 16 to bar the novel, with one member saying he "didn't find any literary value" in Ellison's account of African-American alienation in the United States in the early 20th century.
A fierce backlash by hundreds of citizens, including the county's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has prompted the board to reconsider the ban at a special meeting called for Wednesday evening, board member Matthew Lambeth told Reuters.
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