I posted several days ago regarding my experience with the 'book banning' incident in Kanawha. That experience shook me to my core. As I mentioned, I was not terribly comfortable standing up in front of a group of people to speak, and this time it was the school cafeteria packed with a 'standing room only' crowd! After this incident, my courage in standing up to speak was not helped...
Here is the paper I wrote for my Secondary Education class at Ames:
The Kanawha School Board versus The Grapes of Wrath
by Carol Rueber
(Please keep in mind that this happened in 1981, and today things have changed a great deal in many rural areas. Kanawha no longer has a high school. It has an elementary and a middle school, and the students ride buses to Britt, Iowa, where they attend West Hancock High School. As far as I know, there is still a Christian school at Kanawha, but it is struggling...)
"A year has passed since the well-known decision was made by the Kanawha, Iowa, School Board to remove the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, from the reading list of its sophomore English classes. The book remained in the school library, but was no longer allowed as a reading assignment in the classroom.
"My involvement in this issue was a traumatic experience for me, but in retrospect I would do it again, and I would do more to see that the alternative beliefs present in the community were weighed, rather than just those of the more powerful and more outspoken minority. I have emerged from this incident somewhat more wise to the pressures on teachers and administrators in public schools. I also am more aware that issues are seldom black and white, and even though I believe this action (taken by the Kanawha School Board) was detrimental to education, I am sympathetic to the helpless feeling these people experience when they see their children succumbing to the 'temptations' which surround us all.
"The incident began for me when the superintendent came into the newspaper office in Kanawha (I was office manager at that time for the newspaper), handed me the agenda for the school board meeting, and asked me to give it a small headline and bury it in the back of the paper. I read the agenda and my mind began to contemplate the seriousness of this question. As the week went on, I realized how involved I must become in defense of this important book, 'bad' words and all. I spoke with the superintendent, who incidentally has been a friend of mine, and asked him if he could tell me whether the words themselves are evil, or if the intent of those who speak them is the evil thing. He didn't answer me.
"I tried to get support from the few people in town who I knew well enough to have some feel for where they stood on the issue. It was unfortunate that our public library president was out of the country at the time, for his support would have been extremely helpful. He is a much-respected farmer, and is presently serving on a committee appointed by Gov. Ray (Iowa's governor at that time). One member of the town council did attend the school board meeting with me, as well as another lady who agreed with my stance. The rules for presentation were set down beforehand, allowing the teacher involved to defend her view, and then people who had called the school office for a time slot could present their opinions. There were several people present supporting my view, but the school board president suggested that only one person from each side of the question should speak, since repetition would otherwise occur, and the time was limited. He did call all the names of those who had made appointments with the school office, and asked them if they had anything to add.
"I am not certain that any of those who agreed with my defense of the book would have faced the 100 plus people who had been rounded up to support the objecting parent, especially since most of the objecting people are wealthy farmers who do business with some of them in town. I am not sure I could have gone through with the confrontation, had I known that KGLO-TV of Mason City would be there filming, or if I had known the past reputation of this religious group in Kanawha. (I was later informed that years ago, children from the public school were made to feel 'sinful' because children from the parochial school were not allowed to associate with them outside of school. There is a parochial school in Kanawha at this time which runs from K-8th grade, and the 9th - 12th students attend the public school. I assume that at one time, the parochial offered all grades.)
"The applause and vocal 'amens' after the objecting parent spoke were enough to intimidate anyone. I came out of the meeting quite shaken, and nearly became a basket case in the following days when our phone began to ring at 3 a.m. and the caller would hang up as soon as someone answered.
"After The Des Moines Register interviewed me, I felt as if I was pretty much 'shunned' on the streets. I tend to react more than necessary to this sort of thing, and I still harbor feelings of dislike for the community because of this incident. I did get much support from several people after the commotion died down, but I got the distinct feeling that they were not all that certain that being on my side was a good thing.
"As a follow-up to this situation, I did call the people running for the school board this (1981) fall when I was home for a weekend. One man, running for the first time, said it never should have been allowed to get so out of hand, but he was not so much in support of the book's merits, as against the people who brought the issue to the front. I felt his reasons were wrong and did not vote for him.
"The two other men running, one for re-election and the other for a first term, both felt that the book should be taken off the required reading list. Neither of them had read the entire book. Needless to say, the people on the school board do not hold the value of reading classic material to be very important, either to themselves, nor to the students of the school.
"The man who had been on the school board at the time of the issue seemed a little flustered when I suggested that the opinions of all the parents of involved students were not consulted as to their feelings in the matter, thus the solution was not a very democratic one. This town prides itself on its American Legion unit and has an avenue of flags into the town cemetery, so I assume that they support the democratic ideology.
"If a situation like this ever comes up again, I will try to do more to see that the other side of the issue is represented at the school board meeting. In fact, at the time, had my daughter then been a student in the school, I felt that it would have been interesting to see if a letter of objection to the objection [if an objection is in writing, the school board must deal with it] would have created any more support for the book. Unfortunately, many people in this town are so wrapped up in their little socials and day-to-day stories of hospitalizations and deaths that there are few not connected with the school who read on this level. In fact, the entire school board had to admit that only one of them had finished the entire book. I find this very sad, and an indictment of their former education, perhaps at this very school!
"P.S. An added note: the English teacher quit her position, the principal quit his position, and the school may soon be closing due to the economic situation (the early 1980's were terrible economically for farmers). Needless to say, this town has not been much help in retaining quality teachers nor in keeping its school's head above water. Perhaps consolidation will relieve some of the unfortunate pressures this school system has had to face."
* * * * *
I do not know if that school teacher was ever hired again to teach. When a teacher gets involved in controversial community issues, it can sometimes mean the end to a career, for what school wants to hire someone who causes such a public ruckus? The person who brought the issue to a head was quoted in The Des Moines Register, saying, "If it was my decision, I would have banned it from the school." (The book remained in the school library, but was removed from the high school reading list. The public library borrowed a dozen copies of the book to meet the demand from interested town readers. So, in the end, The Grapes of Wrath got quite a wide audience in that little town!)
One elderly resident was quoted in the Register's article as saying, "You can't take on the Big Two and win. That is, God and the Bible. How you gonna say you're against God? That's what it amounts to if you favor this book. I think I'm a good Christian, but I don't want religion rammed down my throat."
This situation reminds me of the current one in Kentucky where the clerk refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. I am not a very religious person, in part because of this kind of issue, even though the one I was personally involved in took place 34 years ago. I really think if a person has such strong religious beliefs that they cannot do their job, they should not accept a public, tax-supported position. I also think that the English teacher in the paper above did what she could to allow the student in question to choose another book to report on, and to spend time in the school library during the sessions when the book was to be discussed. Sometimes certain people get 'the bit in their mouths,' just like a head-strong horse, and insist they are totally right, and everyone else is wrong. Power struggles like that are 'win-less.' Everyone loses... I must say at this point that when we left Kanawha, I was on 'speaking terms' with the man whose son was the center of the banning incident. It just doesn't pay to hang onto grudges... I only wish that family had decided that the right thing to do would have been have their son read an alternative book.
Articles appeared in newspapers in Russia, Tokyo, and hundreds of other countries around the world about the little town of Kanawha, Iowa and about the banning of The Grapes of Wrath. I lived in Kanawha for 37 years, and had many good friends who in this day and age would have stood beside me. Times have changed somewhat, but every now and then, we still see and hear about a so-called 'religious' person who insists that the rest of the community agree with her/him. I really doubt that could be considered a 'Christian' way of thought... Didn't Jesus say, 'turn the other cheek?'
If you are ever at my house, and are interested in this subject, I have a large manilla file just full of articles about the banning of books, especially The Grapes of Wrath in the little, nice, pleasant town of Kanawha, Iowa. Too bad its 'world-wide' reputation for something more enlightened was not the center of so much attention!
So, there you are...my tangle with religious folks...and, yet, some of my best friends and people with whom I still communicate were ministers and their families who served that little Iowa town.
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