The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
Nikole Hannah-Jones
Removed in several school systems, including from curricula
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.orgThe UnBanned reading room
Adult reading collection
Novels, memoirs, and histories for adult readers. Explore how personal testimony and historical research expand our understanding of Black life in America.
Stamped from the Beginning
Ibram X. Kendi
Removed from the U.S. Naval Academy library, March 2025.
Source: Naval Academy record Get the book via Bookshop.org
Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Removed from an AP course at Chapin High School, S.C., 2023
Source: ACLU Get the book via Bookshop.org
The New Jim Crow
Michelle Alexander
Restricted in two New Jersey prisons; the ban was reversed in January 2018.
Source: ACLU Get the book via Bookshop.org
Just Mercy
Bryan Stevenson
Removed from a Yorkville, Ill. high-school English course, Aug. 2023.
Source: ACLU Get the book via Bookshop.org
How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
Removed from the U.S. Naval Academy library, March 2025.
Source: Naval Academy record Get the book via Bookshop.org
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isabel Wilkerson
Banned in Texas; also in Cobb County, Ga. schools, Aug. 2023.
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.org
Democracy in Black
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Removed from the U.S. Naval Academy library, March 2025.
Source: Naval Academy record Get the book via Bookshop.org
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Alex Haley
Banned in Shenandoah and West Burlington, Iowa school districts, June 2024.
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.org
Black Reconstruction in America, 1860–1880
W. E. B. Du Bois
Banned in Lee County, Fla. schools, June 2024.
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.org
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol
Nell Irvin Painter
Banned in Escambia County, Fla. public schools, Aug. 2023.
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.org
Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
Juan Williams
Banned in Escambia County, Fla. public schools, Aug. 2023.
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.org
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
Banned in Lake County, Fla. schools (Jan. 2024) and in Elkhorn Area, Wis.
Source: PEN America Get the book via Bookshop.orgRead the next one.
Read the source notes with each title. Historical restrictions can be temporary, local, or later reversed. For group reading, request a bulk quote. Find more starting points below.
