Final Project: Threats to Free Speech
Threats to Free Speech: Addressing the Book Bans and Censorship in U.S. Schools What's Happening? There is a massive surge in book bans across U.S. schools. According to PEN America, during the 2024-2025 school year, there were 6,870 recorded instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts. Since 2021, PEN America has counted nearly 23,000 bans across 45 states and 451 school districts. These bans have targeted thousands of titles. In 2024–25, roughly 3,752 distinct books were affected (by authors, illustrators, translators counted). What Kind of Books are Being Banned? The removed books disproportionately include works about or by people of color and LGBTQ+ authors or characters. According to PEN America, 36% of banned titles featured characters or people of color, 25% included LGBTQ+ characters or themes. Many of the banned books address topics like race, racism, social justice, gender identity, sexual orientation, and life experiences (violenc...