March 17, 2025 Story by: Editor
Libraries were once considered safe havens for knowledge and learning. However, in 2025, they have transformed into battlegrounds.
For the past decade, a fierce struggle over library books has unfolded across the South. On one side are white supremacist and Christian nationalist groups, and on the other, an unexpected alliance of progressives, educators, and Black leaders.
Just two months into Donald Trump’s second presidency, his aggressive stance against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has intensified these cultural clashes.
A report released by PEN America on February 27 analyzed banned books from the 2023-2024 school year. It revealed that 36% of the 4,218 books banned featured characters or people of color. This figure increases to 44% when considering only history books or biographies, with 26% specifically focusing on Black individuals. Additionally, 25% of all banned books included LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
“Book banning is not new to this country. It’s just on a whole other level …” said Lacie Sutherland, a former Prattville librarian now working at the Montgomery City-County Public Library.
New legislation from conservative state legislatures is pushing censorship further. In Alabama, a proposed bill would fine librarians $10,000 if they fail to act on book removal requests. Louisiana lawmakers passed a 2024 law allowing parish governments to dismiss library boards without cause. Florida led the nation in book challenges in 2023, with 2,672 titles contested under state law, according to the American Library Association. In response, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a 2024 law limiting public challenges to books, acknowledging that the previous 2022 legislation was overly broad.
“While some of the initial attention has been focused on LGBTQ books,” said Sam Boyd, a senior supervising attorney in Florida with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Democracy: Education and Youth litigation team, “there has been an effort to restrict books featuring Black characters or written by Black authors. And these attacks have certainly created a chilling effect on educators and schools.”
Controlling the Narrative
In Lafayette, Louisiana, the group “Warriors for Christ” filed a lawsuit in 2018 to prevent the library from hosting “Drag Queen Story Time” (DQST), where LGBTQ+ individuals read to children.
By 2021, Robert Judge, an opponent of DQST, had become the chair of the Lafayette Parish Library Board of Control. His tenure was marked by police interventions at public meetings and the controversial firing of the library director, which violated state open meeting laws. Though he later stepped down as chairman, Judge continues to serve on the board, supporting Christian nationalist policies. One such policy decision—rejecting a federal grant for voter education—spurred the formation of a grassroots resistance group.
“The very first salvo in this new phase of the library war here was an overtly racist one, right? Because voting rights are something that disproportionately affects Black and Brown people,” said Lynette Mejia, chair of Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship. “So that’s when it got to the point where I said to myself, ‘OK, they’re not going away.’ This is a sustained attack.”
Mejia initially observed the controversy surrounding DQST without direct involvement. However, her lifelong connection to libraries motivated her to act when voter education funding was denied.
“I started going to the meetings and just listening, finding out who these people were and what they were doing,” she said. “At that point, I didn’t understand why they were doing it. But over time, I learned.”
She traced the growing influence of far-right activist Michael Lunsford and his group, Citizens for a New Louisiana, which opposed drag story hours. Further investigation revealed deeper connections.
“There was a guy named David Pitre on the board,” Mejia explained. “He resigned on August ’23. And then I think a month, two months later, Robert Judge comes up with this packet of information on ‘how Marxist the American Library Association is,’ and how ‘the library needs to disaffiliate from the ALA.’
“He sent it to Robert Judge just before he resigned as his parting gift,” she added. “David Pitre is the uncle of (Heritage Foundation President) Kevin Roberts. So there’s a direct line from The Heritage Foundation to Pitre and, through the library board, to Michael Lunsford and his group.”
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, opposes abortion, LGBTQ, immigration rights, and racial equity. It is also behind Project 2025, a blueprint for reshaping the federal government to align with conservative principles.
Citizens for a New Louisiana played a key role in the Lafayette Parish Public Library losing one of its tax millages in 2018, significantly reducing its operations. The group has also been involved in library-related disputes in Livingston and St. Tammany parishes.
“So for one month last February, we had a Black History Month display,” Mejia said. “Then the board came back the very next month and banned all displays.”
Erasing Black History from Bookshelves
Carter G. Woodson’s efforts to incorporate Black history into American education led to the establishment of Negro History Week, which evolved into Black History Month. Over the decades, educators and librarians have used the occasion to introduce students to stories and perspectives often absent from mainstream curricula.
However, many of these books are now disappearing from library shelves, much like Lafayette’s Black History Month displays.
“They get around it because they say, ‘We’re banning anything from this place with any kind of sexual content, OK?’” Mejia said. “Like librarians are going to be posting sexual content on display. But the way they got around that was they said, ‘anything political or controversial.’ The librarians here are so scared and so cowed and so many of them have left.”
Vague laws targeting discussions on race have contributed to a broader suppression of diverse voices. Georgia’s 2022 “divisive concepts” law, signed by Governor Brian Kemp in Forsyth County, has led to widespread book challenges. The law has even been cited to justify removing Shakespeare’s works from libraries and banning LGBTQ+ literature.
The legislation was used to terminate Cobb County teacher Katie Rinderle in 2023 for reading My Shadow is Purple, a children’s book about self-acceptance and gender stereotypes. The SPLC is representing Rinderle in a lawsuit challenging her dismissal.
“It’s not a direct challenge of the divisive concepts law, but based on it and its aftereffects,” said Mike Tafelski, interim deputy legal director of the SPLC’s Democracy: Education and Youth litigation team. “It shows you how these vague laws that may be targeting race get interpreted much more broadly to include other communities, as far as what is on the shelves and what isn’t.”
A Library in Decline
Prattville, Alabama, is experiencing a similar crisis. Its library board recently dismissed the director, staff members are leaving, and parts of the building have been shut down due to structural damage.
“We are the poster child of how you lose your library and everything just goes downhill,” said Angie Hayden, co-founder of Read Freely Alabama. “They couldn’t hire somebody if they tried. What librarian is going to come and work in Prattville right now?”
Further complicating matters, Alabama legislators have introduced HB 4, a bill that could severely impact library book selections.
“So they can take this book to your library and say, ‘This is indoctrination propaganda. It’s inappropriate, and I want it removed.’ That librarian then has to make a decision, and I believe it’s 15 days to do it. If they choose to relocate or remove the book completely, that ends it.”
However, librarians who refuse to comply have no recourse.
“If they decide to stand up for the book … there’s no mechanism for them to defend that book,” Hayden warned. “There is no — and I can’t stress this enough — no mechanism by which the librarian can say, ‘This stays and this is why.’”
Source: SPL Center
