Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law
Key takeaways
- Photograph: TPLP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Alex Haley in London, England, on 13 April 1977.
- Knox county schools (KCS) took that step under a state law that has disappeared hundreds of titles from school libraries and alarmed advocates of free expression.
- First published in 1976, Roots: The Saga of an American Family tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who was brutally stolen from his home in the Gambia and taken to North America to be sold into the nightmare of slavery.
Why this matters: a developing story that could shape the day's news cycle.
Alex Haley in London, England, on 13 April 1977. Photograph: TPLP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Alex Haley in London, England, on 13 April 1977. Photograph: TPLP/Getty Images Tennessee Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law With third-highest number of books banned, state removes renowned work about slave trade from library shelves
Prefer the Guardian on Google A Tennessee school district has banned Roots, the author Alex Haley’s groundbreaking novel and one of the most renowned and influential works about the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.
Knox county schools (KCS) took that step under a state law that has disappeared hundreds of titles from school libraries and alarmed advocates of free expression.