Thus far, Robert and I have chosen our book, chosen our local case and begun to connect nation-wide instances of challenges and bans. Our book is absolutely The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and we are looking into the instance of a Tulsa teacher leaving the district in 1960.
Robert has emailed a school is Issquah, Washington, regarding their challenge in 1978. While we have not yet heard from them, this information will be used in a StoryMap to connect cases. As of the writing of this post, Robert has just heard back from the Oklahoma Historical Society and his email is being forwarded. I will soon be emailing another member of the Tulsa Public School District Administration to find information regarding the Tulsa case.
On Friday, February 23rd, I traveled from Chickasha to Tulsa in order to visit the Tulsa City-County Library. While there, I discovered multiple newspaper clippings in the vertical files for ourselves and others to use. These ranged from directly discussing the Tulsa teacher leaving and reasons for the book challenge, to how the challenge was used in what we are calling the “Smutmobile Case” a year later. There was also an article regarding Muskogee banning To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
The Smutmobile Case lead to legislation in 1961 regarding the distribution of pornographic material. While similar laws have been on the books since at least 1958 from what I could find, this was a major instance of civilian protest which influenced the outcome. Our Tulsa case was mentioned in the news articles regarding the hearing as evidence censorship was necessary to protect the children from the evils of the world.
After making copies of the articles I found, I realized how much time I had left before the end of the school day and decided to visit Edison Prep to try to find more information. When I arrived, the office personnel seemed enthusiastic to help, although they knew what I sought could not be found at the school. I was given directions to the location of the School Board and went across town to visit there. At Tulsa Schools Board of Education, I met with the Board Clerk for a few minutes. She showed me “The Vault” where minutes are kept and gave me contact information for another person who was not presently in and could better help me. She was incredibly interested in the case of censorship and enthusiastic to provide as much support as possible. She also gave me a small idea of how challenges are progressed in the Tulsa Public School system.
Overall, I had a fantastic and fruitful day trip to Tulsa. The library is simply beautiful and the people were more than happy to interact and help. There was little, if any, red tape I had to step through to talk face-to-face with someone even on a moment’s notice. My next step is to email the person whom I was directed to and see what information she has after recovering from the flu. I will also be compiling information for the StoryMap.