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Featured Case: Democracy in America (exhibition) EDIT PAGE Artist: James Baldwin Year: 1953 Date of Action: February 1994 Region: North America Location: Hudson Falls, NY Subject: Explicit Sexuality, Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Religion, Sexual/Gender Orientation, Violence Medium: Literature Confronting Bodies: Hudson Falls School Board, Hudson Falls, NY Description of Artwork: Go Tell it On the Mountain was James Baldwin's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story and debut novel. It has been used in schools since its publication in 1953. It tells the story of John Grimes, an intelligent teenager in 1930s Harlem, and his relationship to his family and his church. The novel also reveals the back stories of John's mother, his biological father, and his violent, religious fanatic step-father, Gabriel Grimes. The novel focuses on the role of the Pentecostal Church in the lives of African-Americans, as a negative source of repression and moral hypocrisy and also as a positive source of inspiration and community. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Go Tell It on the Mountain 39th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Time Magazine included the novel in its "TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". (source: Wikipedia) The Incident: Among a number of books challenged in the Hudson Falls Book Bannings, "Go Tell it on the Mountain" was challenged as required reading in the Hudson Falls, N.Y. schools because the book has recurring themes of rape, masturbation, violence and degrading treatment of women. It had already been challenged as a ninth-grade summer reading option in Prince William County, Va. (1988) because the book was "rife with profanity and explicit sex." (Source: 2004 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle). Results of Incident: Unknown Source: Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, ALA Banned Books by African-American Authors, ThoughtCo., Updated November 02, 2017 National Coalition Against Censorship 2013 “Banned Books Library” Catalog Go Tell It on the Mountain (novel), Wikipedia What is Censorpedia? Censorpedia is a crowdsourced online database of censorship cases within the arts and in culture. It is aimed at those researching censorship, at activists working for freedom of expression and at artists and other cultural producers whose expression has been subject to censorship or attempted censorship. Censorpedia documents censorship incidents by providing the who, what, when, where and why. By providing a repository of information about what is vulnerable to censorship and about the strategies and tactics that have defeated previous’ censorship attempts, Censorpedia aids the fight for free expression. Researchers can search for a specific case, year or keyword using the search box, as well as browse by medium, by grounds for censorship, or explore a random case. Activists can search for ongoing cases or contribute a case that is ongoing or recently resolved. Artists and cultural producers are similarly invited to add cases they are directly involved with or are familiar with first hand. Censorpedia builds on the landmark 1994 art project The File Room, initiated by Muntadas. For more information about censorship visit our Annotated Bibliography Feel free to: add a case Browse censorship cases by: medium grounds for censorship region all cases ongoing cases random case Censorpedia Terms of Use