S5 Ep. 13: Censoring the American Canon: Farah Jasmine Griffin on Book Bans Targeting Black Writers

fiction/non/fiction

Acclaimed writer and professor Farah Jasmine Griffin joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about why book bans so often target the power of Black literature. Griffin discusses the censorship of Black authors like Toni Morrison as well as communities’ efforts to preserve and share Black stories when schools won’t. Author of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, Griffin discusses how her own exposure to Black authors like Morrison and James Baldwin came largely from her own father, outside of the classroom.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Farah Jasmine Griffin

• Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature
• “Banning Toni Morrison’s books doesn’t protect kids. It just sanitizes racism.” | The Washington Post
• Who Set You Flowin?: The African American Migration Narrative

Others:

• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• “Missouri school district bans Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’” | Today
• Ralph Ellison
• “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” and “The Novel as a Function of American Democracy” by Ralph Ellison from Going to the Territory
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Toni Morrison
• James Baldwin
• If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
• The 1619 Project
• Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Adam Serwer on Critical Race Theory and the Very American Fear of Owning Up to Our Racist Past and Present Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4, Episode 20
• Angela Davis

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