Displays Highlight Prejudice and Censorship

Hewes Library invites visitors to peruse two current displays focused on censorship and the persistence of prejudice in the United States.

The visit of educator Jane Elliott to the Monmouth College campus facilitates a display of library materials addressing racism and prejudice. Materials in the exhibit are available for checkout and include:
Race: The Power of Illusion
The Myth of Race (Sussman)
A Class Divided : Then and Now

Patrons may also utilize a streaming film list of Jane Elliott documentaries available through the library databases Academic Video Online.


In conjunction with Monmouth College Educational Studies students, the library is displaying books that have been challenged or removed from U.S. libraries and schools in recent years. Titles like "And Tango Makes Three" and "I Am Jazz" are consistently challenged based on LGBT themes.  "Little House on the Prairie," "The Color Purple" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" have been removed from reading lists when parents object to racist language and negative stereotypes.

According to the Office of Intellectual Freedom, an office within the American Library Association, "Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." The exhibit in Hewes Library is located on the east side, main floor and will remain open for approximately two weeks.