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The first edition of The Family Shakespeare , with approximately 10% of the original text censored, is published under the name of Thomas Bowdler, although his sister Henrietta Bowdler is said to have done most of the editing. Later this type of censorship of works comes to be known as bowdlerization. -
The first U.S. federal law banning the importation of obscene matter is passed.
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U.S. Congress passes the act for the "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use," also known as the Comstock Act. This law, which bars obscene literature from interstate commerce, includes birth-control literature within the definition of the obscene. -
Following the publication of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn , the library of Concord, Massachusetts, bans the book from its collection. Members of the library committee reject the book for being "rough, coarse and inelegant.” -
The first U.S. federal law banning the importation James Joyce's novel Ulysses is first serialized in installments by The Little Review. -
The obscenity exception to the First Amendment is established in Roth v. United States . In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that it is not a violation of the First Amendment for the government to regulate obscene speech.
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Garth Williams writes and illustrates a picture book called The Rabbits' Wedding , which features a white rabbit marrying a black rabbit. Following protests by the White Citizens' Council, the picture book is removed from the shelves in Alabama public libraries. -
In Miller v. California , the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms that obscene material is not protected under the First Amendment and establishes a three-pronged test to identify obscenity.
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The American Library Association's (ALA's) Banned Books Week is first observed. -
Judy Blume is awarded the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for her young adult book Forever (published in 1975), a book often censored and/or banned. According to the ALA, Blume is one of the most frequently challenged authors of the 21st century. -
The Harry Potter children's book series tops the ALA's most challenged books of 1999 following complaints by parents and others that the books are teaching children witchcraft. -
The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey is pulled from the shelves of the library at Maple Hill School in Naugatuck, CT, due to concerns that the series is causing unruly behavior in children. -
And Tango Makes Three , a picture book about two male penguins raising a chick, tops the ALA's 2006 list of most challenged books. -
A school in Biloxi, Mississippi, removes Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird after complaints that the language in the book makes people uncomfortable. -
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina bans the book Jacob's New Dress , a children's book about a boy who likes to wear dresses. -
A school board in Tennessee bans the award-winning Holocaust graphic novel "Maus" for "inappropriate content." The decision sparks intense backlash. -
According to PEN America, in between July-December of 2023, 4,349 books were banned across 23 states and 52 public school districts. More books were banned in those six months than in the 12 months of the 2022-2023 school year.
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The US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas declares Arkansas Act 372 unconstitutional. The law would have criminalized librarians and bookstore owners for providing books with inappropriate content to minors.