Literacy advocates in Ohio defend difficult texts as they mark Toni Morrison Day

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Lawmakers and literacy advocates in Ohio used the birthday of one of America’s most frequently banned authors on Tuesday to defend difficult texts that they fear could be impacted by new pushes against diversity initiatives and the teaching of “controversial” topics.

Ohio established Toni Morrison Day — named for the late Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author born and raised in northeast Ohio — in a nearly unanimous bipartisan vote in 2020. Her books include The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved.

During a news conference, children’s author Elisa Stone Leahy, of Right to Read Ohio and Authors Against Book Bans, said that Morrison’s “powerful, incredible stories” may be difficult but they also change lives. She said they serve as an inspiration to current authors, many of whom are concerned.

“Words are powerful and that means that they’re dangerous,” she said. “I write for kids and we all want what’s best for kids, and we all worry that our kids will hear things that we don’t agree with. But the answer isn’t censorship — the answer’s connection. We have to have conversations with our children.”

She made her comments against the backdrop of a larger national movement pushing back on what conservatives see as “wokeness” in schools. In Ohio, the well-funded Protect Ohio Children Coalition has worked in recent years to gather information on schools and school boards that it says are pushing “dangerous and radical materials” on Ohio students and it posts to its website an “indoctrination map” targeting districts.

State Rep. Joe Miller, a Democrat whose district includes Morrison’s hometown, Lorain, said Tuesday that developing a love of reading as a child can hone critical thinking, foster empathy, spark creativity and broaden one’s perspective about people unlike themselves.

Morrison learned to read and write using chalk on the sidewalk — and she said of her job at the Lorain library, “Everything I do starts here,” Miller recalled. Lorain is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Cleveland.

Miller said that young writers of varied ages, genders and backgrounds just attended an event at the Lorain Public Library on Saturday celebrating them for their writings. It was part of The Big Read, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

“That funding probably is going to go, and that is going to take away an opportunity,” he said.

Sharon Hawkins, director of Right to Read Ohio, said the constitutional right of free speech also applies to reading, which is the receiving of speech, and that courts have extended that right to children, including in their schools.

“Courts have frowned upon anyone restricting this access just because they don’t like the ideas expressed in a book,” she said. “And we the people — Republicans, independents, Democrats, all — overwhelmingly appreciate the local libraries and librarians.”