Massachusetts
Freedom Library hands out 4,500 books in Massachusetts to combat book bans
Having handed out thousands books in the South, the NAACP and American Federation of Teachers “Freedom Library” traveled north to give out another 4,500 often-disputed books.
“The youth here understood because of what’s going on in Florida what’s going on in Texas, the attack on knowledge,” said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten at a book giveaway Tuesday. “It’s starting with the attack on reading and on the opportunity to read, the freedom to read books of their choosing.”
The giveaways held at the NAACP National Convention and the Boston Teachers Union headquarters throughout the week distributed a wide variety of books, including titles like “Nuestra America,” Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” “B is for Baby” and “The Hate U Give.”
The Freedom Library initiative, a collaboration between the NAACP, First Read and AFT, has given away over 1.5 million books since 2021 and recently distributed 10,000 books to Black communities in Florida following recent restrictions on books and curriculum.
Book bans and challenges have surged nationally, with the ALA reporting the highest number of attempted book bans on record in 2022.
Massachusetts, the ALA reported, had the fourth highest number of book challenges in the U.S. in 2022, with “Gender Queer” as the most challenged title. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners data showed formal and informal book challenges, objections and disruptions spiked from 20 in 2021 to 78 in 2022.
“People who are filing these complaints or are trying to ban these books, these are the books that they’re going after they’re going after — books that represents us,” said Francesca Mitchell, a NAACP Region 5 Youth Board Member, gesturing to the books at a BTU event Tuesday. “Us as Black people, us as the LGBTQ+ community, people who are progressive, and people who are aware of the world some people don’t want to actually see.”
As a young person originally from Florida, Mitchell said, she got into the initiative because the attacks on books she read growing up felt personal.
Weingarten noted the event is not just about handing out literacy tools and making books accessible, but making books that represent diverse backgrounds and experiences accessible.
“Like the book about Eid was so important here,” said Weingarten. “Some of the kids who are Muslim said, ‘I’ve never seen a book like this.’”
“I feel like it’s awesome that they’re getting people to get these books,” said Lily Li-Nagy, an 8-year-old Bostonian who’s poem “The Shape of Love, Peace and Unity” was available at the Tuesday event. “Because I love reading. Whenever I had the chance to book my hands, I read it, and I just hope that other people have that experience too.”