First Amendment rights in the “land of the free” only seem to be getting more specific, despite them being a part of our country’s legal upbringing from its mere beginnings. Censorship continues to make its way back into the red, white and blue, sparking debate in academic institutions, specifically with book banning. But why has book banning been a prevalent issue for so long, and how will it shape the future of learning? One thing is clear: the battle over banned books is not just about literature—it’s about shaping the future of free thought because the right to read is the right to learn.

Disclaimer: This article refers to literature that mentions suicide, sexual assault and other potentially sensitive topics. 

It Started Way Back Yonder

While modern media makes book banning seem like a newer concept, this form of censorship actually spans centuries. Take William Shakespeare: in your high school English classes, you either leapt at the chance to show off your iambic pentameter reading or dreaded the plethora of “thine” and “ye” and just looked forward to the day you saw young Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet. These mixed feelings are not exclusive to today’s readers.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, editors attempted to remove Shakespeare’s puns and sexual innuendos from his plays. One English physician — yes, physician — Thomas Bowdler, published a “family-friendly” version of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” in 1818, where he cut close to 90% of the original stories. Some of his changes included making Ophelia’s death an accidental drowning instead of a suggested suicide in “Hamlet” and changing “God!” to “Heavens!” in “Macbeth.” 

Throughout the 20th century, almost all of Shakespeare’s most famous works were removed from a local or school library. Whether someone complained about glorified drugs, sex and suicide like in“Romeo & Juliet,” explored homosexual relations like “Twelfth Night,” or featured the “sin” of witchcraft like “Macbeth,” the literary works we grew up reading continue to be banned. But how does book banning work?

The Public Fuels the Process

Despite the push to censor in Florida with bills like “Don’t Say Gay” and House Bill 1069, which bans Florida public school libraries from holding books with “sexual conduct” or  “is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used,” the government has no say in the removal of books from local, public libraries. In fact, all it takes is one person to “challenge” or complain about a book for it to be banned. Whether it makes it through to banning is entirely situational. 

For example, if a citizen finds a sexually explicit book in the children’s section of a public library and challenges it, the complaint is evaluated by the library’s administration. Perhaps this sexually explicit book was misplaced by a visitor and belonged in a more appropriate section: this does not call for the library to permanently ban it. Moving the book to another section classifies it as a “partial ban.”

However, suppose a sexually explicit book is appropriately placed in a young adult or adult section, and visitors are still challenging it. In that case, the library may feel obligated to remove it from shelves, fully banning the book.

Nonetheless, when one library bans a book, others do not have to follow. However, in areas with like-minded and socially similar residents, books challenged at one library will likely be challenged nearby. As for public school libraries, the implementation of HB 1069 alone in 2023 took over 700 books off the shelves in Florida schools, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Specifically with young adult novels, sexually explicit content is often coupled with important life lessons for younger generations to be accepting of their peers, regardless of how they identify in sexuality, race, etc.

 Lauren Fralinger, the Head of Learning and Research Services for the University of Miami Libraries, says she fears the next generation, especially in the state of Florida, can potentially become close-minded to minority groups due to government initiatives. 

“There is an adversarial climate in Florida right now against diversity efforts and books often are an expression of diversity. They carry stories which generate empathy towards people that others may be combative with or adversarial to, so there is an attempt to control what people are reading so they do not have empathy or understanding for these kinds of groups,” Fralinger says.

Fralinger works with Richter Library on UM’s Coral Gables campus to display frequently banned books for “Banned Books Week.” Started in 1982 by the American Library Association and Judith King, a First Amendment and library activist, the week-long event takes place across the US during the last week of September. Fralinger’s display, which stays up for two weeks after Banned Books Week on the first floor of Richter, showcased almost 90 banned books in 2024.

However, the impacts of book banning can reach the national level as soon as Inauguration Day in January 2025. With Donald Trump as the president-elect, initiatives like Project 2025, created by his supporters, may potentially go into effect. Part of Project 2025 may include removing any literary works that feature sexual content and classifying all LGBTQ+ books as pornography.

Speaking of pornography and pornographic content, Project 2025 specifically reads, “The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.”

For library employees like Fralinger, the future of book banning could truly determine the course of her career and life.

UM: Uncensored and Unstoppable

Here at the University of Miami, student organizations like Sigma Tau Delta’s Phi Mu chapter, — the English Honor Society open to all majors — advocate for the right to read.

Junior Dylan D’Alessandro, president of Sigma Tau Delta, says he recognizes the repercussions book banning has on public and private educational institutions at the K-12 and collegiate levels.

“I’m lucky to attend UM, a private university where we can publish this article. Public colleges need funding from the state government to keep their doors open. High school teachers are being fired and sued for talking about book bans in their classrooms. This is no partisan political issue; it’s a violation of our constitutional rights. That should scare people,” D’Alessandro says.

Sigma Delta Tau also held its own events during Banned Books Week, organized by junior Andrew Ashton, vice president of the honors society. These events incorporated minority student organizations and school departments such as the LGBTQ+ Center, the Alliance of Latin American Students, United Black Students and Multicultural Student Affairs.

“We invited many other organizations and hope to have even more in future years. Even if specific minority groups were not being targeted, which they are, we as lovers of stories and literature do not think that governments or groups should be able to hinder freedom of thought and information,” Ashton says.

“Discourse thrives when we operate with a shared set of facts. Establishing that knowledge base requires a robust exchange of ideas. A book banned is an author silenced. Erased,” said D’Alessandro. The honor society’s president says he believes book banning is an inherently political issue, asserting that government interference with people’s ability to express ideas and opinions damages the foundation of our democracy.

 Students are not the only ones encouraging the community to learn about banned books. For the Spring 2025 semester, English professor and author John Funchion is teaching a course called Literary Themes and Topics: Banned Books — class code ENG 210 —. This course is open to all majors and can even be used towards UM students’ required Arts and Humanities cognate.

“I think it’s important for University of Miami students to think about what it means to be in a place like this and recognize the kinds of protections that we have. We’re not directly beholden to elected officials…The institution might feel pressure, force or pressure to change its position on certain things. But it doesn’t have to,” Funchion says.

While censorship in the “land of the free” is nothing new, extremist administrations on the state and federal levels show us that our fight has just begun. Fighting against book banning is no longer just a fight for First Amendment rights. It’s a fight for knowledge, a fight to learn, and most importantly, a fight for future generations to grow up knowing right from wrong.

Most Frequently Banned Books of 2024

• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
  • Banned for: LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
  • Banned for: LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
• This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
  • Banned for: LQBTQ+ content, sex education, claimed to be sexually explicit
• Flamer by Mike Curato
  • Banned for:  LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • Banned for: DEI content, rape, incest, claimed to be sexually explicit
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
  • Banned for: LGBTQ+ content, drugs, rape, claimed to be sexually explicit
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  • Banned for: profanity, violence, anti-police messaging
• Sold by Patricia McCormick
  • Banned for: rape, claimed to be sexually explicit

words_amanda mohamad. design_sal puma.

This article was published in Distraction’s Winter 2024 print issue.

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