How psychologists are fighting censorship to keep culturally diverse books available to everyone
By Rachel Brooks
July 1, 2025 | Vol. 56, No. 5
The pace and scope of book bans have increased dramatically since the White House push to end equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives across universities, cultural institutions, and science. And federal policy is now laying the groundwork to make it easier to ban books. On January 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education said it would stop investigating schools that banned books from their libraries, dismissing pending allegations and rescinding previous department guidance that said these bans could violate civil rights laws. And on April 4, the U.S. Naval Academy removed 381 books from its Nimitz Library (PDF, 280KB) under an order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office. Topics on the pull list include the Holocaust, environmental racism, and gender studies, as well as books like Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, long celebrated for its powerful insights on racism during the Jim Crow era and its innovative memoir style.
According to PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting free expression worldwide, most U.S. censorship targets books featuring characters of color or other marginalized identities. The organization counted 10,046 book bans in public schools during the 2023–24 school year alone, with Florida (4,561) and Iowa (3,671) leading the nation (Meehan, K., et al., PEN America, Nov. 1, 2024). That statistic includes books that address issues of race and racism, gender, and ethnic diversity—topics that can improve children’s motivation to read and reading proficiency (The Impact of a Diverse Classroom Library, First Book, 2023) as well as reduce social divides, according to research (Cameron, L., et al., Child Development, Vol. 77, No. 5, 2006; Kim, S. J., et al., Early Education and Development, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2016). >>READ MORE
