December 17, 2015

Art Hall

Upper School Principal

Friends Central School

1101 City Avenue

Wynnewood, PA 19096

Via email: communications@friendscentral.org

Dear Mr. Hall, As organizations dedicated to the freedom to read, the integrity of the educational system, and the value of

free speech principles in education, we are writing to express concern regarding the removal of Mark

Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Friends’ Central School’s (FCS) 11th grade American

literature curriculum. According to press reports, the book, which was to be taught alongside the Narrative of the Life of

Frederick Douglass1, was removed from the curriculum after a group of students said it made them

uncomfortable. Apparently the book’s use of the word “nigger” was “challenging for some students.” A

letter to parents stated that the administration had “come to the conclusion that the community costs of

reading this book in 11th grade outweigh the literary benefits.” The pedagogical and literary merit of Huckleberry Finn, one of the classics of American literature, is

indisputable, which is why it has been part of the curriculum in schools across the country for many

decades. Of course, it presents many challenges to students – which are best addressed in the classroom

and with the help of a teacher. As noted Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin explained, “Huckleberry

Finn remains a hard book to read and a hard book to teach…. If we lived in a world in which racism had

been eliminated generations before, teaching Huck Finn would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately that’s not

the world we live in.” Indeed, at a time of difficult and polarizing conversations about race, it is understandable that a novel

which repeatedly uses a highly offensive slur would generate discomfort. But does the discomfort caused

by the language or the ambiguities of the novel’s narrative outweigh the value of teaching the book? Attempts to remove books from schools invariably claim that an idea or image offends or disturbs. But

acceding to such demands denies everyone – the students protesting as well as those who would want to

read the book – an opportunity to engage with the text in a meaningful way. A pedagogically sound approach to curricular selections requires educational professionals to ask whether

a book is relevant to the students, not whether it is comfortable. And Huckleberry Finn’s complex

examination of race relations at a fraught moment in the country’s history makes it particularly relevant

1 According to the Friends’ Central School’s “Texts for American Literature – 2015-2016”:

https://www.friendscentral.org/uploaded/Campus_Life/Documents/2015-2016/Grade_11-AmericanLiteratureTexts2015-2016.pdf

A project of the National Coalition Against Censorship

CO-SPONSORED BY

American Booksellers for Free Expression Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Association of American Publishers

today. As Nobel Prize Laureate Toni Morrison wrote, “in addition to the reverence the novel stimulates is

its ability to transform its contradictions into fruitful complexities and to seem to be deliberately

cooperating in the controversy it has excited. The brilliance of Huckleberry Finn is that it is the argument

it raises.” Indeed, the challenge of reading Huck Finn is the reason why it should be read within the

classroom, where its complexities and ambivalences can be contextualized and examined. We appreciate FCS’s efforts to “ask that students stand up for what they believe,” and, as the school’s

vision statement puts it, “[t]o awaken courage and intellect – and peacefully transform the world.” But to

transform the world one needs to be ready to fearlessly confront its contradictions and historical burdens –

especially as they are encoded in the nation’s literary canon. As novelist and PEN/Faulkner Award winner

David Bradley said,

Huckleberry Finn should be taught because it is a seminal and central text in White American

Literature. Huckleberry Finn should be taught because it is a seminal and central text in Black

American Literature. Huckleberry Finn must be taught because it is a specific point of intersection

between these two American Literatures. We are sure that as FCS and its teachers continue to strive to challenge your students, you will seek to also

teach them that the discomfort of living in a society where racial tensions persist will not be resolved by

the banishment of literary classics from the classroom. We urge you to restore The Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn to the 11th grade American literature curriculum in keeping with sound educational and

free speech principles.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Svetlana Mintcheva, Director of Programs Chris Finan, Director

National Coalition Against Censorship American Booksellers for Free Expression

Judy Platt, Director Charles Brownstein, Executive Director

Free Expression Advocacy Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Association of American Publishers

CC: Craig Sellers, Head of School

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