Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Artist: Ralph Ellison
Year: 2013
Date of Action: September 2013
Region: North America
Location: Randolph County, North Carolina
Subject: Explicit Sexuality, Youth
Medium: Literature
Confronting Bodies: Ralph Ellison, NC Randolph County School District
Description of Artwork: Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph Ellison.
The Incident: Ralph Ellison's novel was one of the three suggested books to read for the summer for 11th grade students. It came under challenge when a mother of one of the students thought that the novel had too many sexual references and profane language, and a member of the Board of Education agreed that he did not find any literary value in the book. As a result, the Randolph County school board voted 5-2 to ban the book from school libraries in the county.
Results of Incident: On September 25th, the school board decided to lift the ban on the book. Invisible Man can now be found on shelves of Randolph County libraries.