The Biloxi School District got complaints about the wording in “To Kill A Mockingbird” — an American classic being taught in 8th grade English Language Arts classes — and pulled it from the curriculum.
It was an administrative and department decision, a member of the school board said, and not something that the school board voted on. It happened Wednesday or Thursday.
Kenny Holloway, vice president of the Biloxi School Board said, “There were complaints about it. There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, and we can teach the same lesson with other books.
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“It’s still in our library. But they’re going to use another book in the 8th grade course.”
When asked Thursday morning if the book had been pulled from the course, Superintendent Arthur McMillan issued a statement five hours later that said: “There are many resources and materials that are available to teach state academic standards to our students. These resources may change periodically. We always strive to do what is best for our students and staff to continue to perform at the highest level.”
McMillan did not answer any questions on the issue.
Sun Herald received a email from a concerned reader who said the decision was made “mid-lesson plan, the students will not be allowed to finish the reading of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ …. due to the use of the ‘N’ word.”
The reader said, “I think it is one of the most disturbing examples of censorship I have ever heard, in that the themes in the story humanize all people regardless of their social status, education level, intellect, and of course, race. It would be difficult to find a time when it was more relevant than in days like these.”
The current themes for 2nd term language arts classes in Biloxi this year are the Golden Rule and taking a stand. With “To Kill A Mockingbird” specifically, the teens were slated to learn that compassion and empathy are not dependent upon race or education, according to the school’s website.
The book is listed on the curriculum as core text for 8th grade ELA, the Common Core state standards for English Language Arts.
One 8th grade teacher on the school website described it as: “Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, “To Kill A Mockingbird” takes readers to the roots of human behavior — to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into 10 languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.”
A Southern gothic novel, it was published in 1960, won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction the next year and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962.
The plot deals with rape and racial inequality in a small Southern town. The events and characters are loosely based on author Harper Lee’s observations of an event that happened near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in the 1930s, when when she was young.
Monroeville has recently looked at ways to develop new attractions and draw more tourists based on its association with the book.
The American Library Association lists “To Kill A Mockingbird” as No. 21 in the most banned or challenged books in the last decade.
Well, the kids of those (very few) parents who complained make me uncomfortable…..maybe they should be pulled and then leave the book for everyone else?
That’s a splendid idea BSHJ.
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The author was unavailable to comment as he has been dead for 33 years.
I sincerely hope you don’t seriously believe that Truman Capote “helped” Nelle Harper Lee write her book, or had anything to do with it in any way. How anyone could believe this is beyond me- how could anyone believe that anyone with Capote’s diseased ego, penchant for lying, and completely different focus as a writer, had anything to do with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, is beyond me. The book is so NOT his style in any way, and in any case, he was too hard at work on his own projects, and too busy with his frantic social climbing, to spare one second of time for anyone else’s project, especially one that would not bear his own byline. Truman had no use for anyone or anything he couldn’t use for his own purposes. ‘Tis said by many, that if he wanted to know you, he wanted to use you.
On the contrary, Lee was of great assistance to Capote, her dear old childhood chum, in his work on his IN COLD BLOOD. Besides smoothing the way for him in Halcomb, KS and helping him become accepted by the locals, she helped him keep track of the thousands of pages of notes he wrote.
The two authors also differed greatly in how they conducted themselves after becoming rich and celebrated. Lee continue to live a quiet, dignified life in her Monroeville, AL, while Capote made a career out of being a celebrity and social climber, and started straight downhill professionally and personally after his grand black & white ball. He had to have his big celebration, but at Lee’s party celebrating the publication of HER book, he couldn’t talk about anything but himself and what he was doing.
Lee’s original work, which was much more nuanced than the cartoonish ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was published a few years ago. TKAM was rewritten to the present version by Lee’s communist editor….
Not really, but it did flush out a rather decent comment by you, so I chalk it up as a win.
“…due to the use of the ‘N’ word.”
As if anyone doesn’t know immediately what that means. The infantile mentality that allows people top deceive themselves into thinking that “the N-word” doesn’t mean nigger is mind-boggling. It reminds me of toddlers playing peek-a-boo and thinking that if they hold their hands over their eyes no one can see them.
Better to ban books, or even burn them than to continue the charade.
I’d prefer they outright burn the books, in a public ceremony, with all the MSM providing coverage. It would be honest, and the normies would see exactly where they stand.
As long as the black community uses the “N word” it is in play and appropriate……clean up your own house first liberals and the revisit its existance…….
Why did they pull the book?Tis a simple answer,we have to a large degree become a nation of pussies,hopefully we can still change that sad and potentially very dangerous path before it is too late.
It is a niggardly thing to do.
Maggie, you’re a naughty girl!
Ha ha! The niggardly thing to do would have been to simply blot out certain words in the text.
Better that the students not learn 1960s myths about equality and white submission cast as compassion. Agree with liberals for the wrong reasons. They are tearing up the basis of their own worldview.
Yes, the book is tripe…
since when do schools ever listen to parents?
You don’t read this book because it has a “lesson to teach.” You read it because it is GREAT literature….and a good story…and because it is a classic.
But the most important question for all the parents is why you continue to willingly hand your children over to the gulag of government day prisons they call “skools” every day. They are nothing more than propaganda centers designed to breed conformists and to destroy independent and critical thinking.
Wuz gonna say it, but u sed it first. Hey dis ebonic ting woiks!
Of course it’s stereotypical portrayal of southern men as bigoted rubes and blacks as put upon is OK right? The movie was even more sickening then the book.
Just Lordy, Lordy, can’t be using the vernacular of the time can we?
Ok, if were going to ban the word “nigger” from the schools, then lets go and ban all of the rap songs that have the word “nigger”