The school board of New Hanover County, North Carolina, voted on Tuesday to continue a ban on using the controversial book Stamped as educational material in classrooms.
“I see no value in it. I see no value in using a very divisive ideology and using it to teach rhetoric,” member David Perry said about the book.
The current policy places a ban on using the book as material for teaching the rhetoric section of AP Language and Composition, but it allows the book to be shelved in high school libraries. Some board members disputed that qualifies as a ban at all.
“I don’t mean to inflame, but all of the survey and conversation, even the agenda talked about banning, we never banned anything. This school board has never banned anything,” member Pat Bradford said, thumping the table for emphasis.
“We could argue about the definition of banning, but when a teacher is not allowed to use a book, that’s a ban,” member Dr. Tim Merrick responded.
Merrick emphasized the opinions of “experts, educators, who understand the law, understand what our children need, and they told us in no uncertain terms: let teachers teach.”
He was the only member to vote against the ban, losing the vote 5-1.
The debate over Stamped has been a national one, with challenges to using the book occurring in counties in Minnesota, Maryland, Indiana, and New Jersey. The book was banned from use in classrooms in New Hanover County after a parent brought concerns to the board in 2023.
“I want to bring to your attention the book, Stamped, assigned to the AP Language and Comp class at Ashley High School. This book contains Marxist ideology, inaccurate reframing of history, untruths, and disrespect for our nation and the Bible,” Katie Gates said, speaking at a school board meeting in January of 2023.
Gates was referring to sections of the book discussing how the Founding Fathers kept slaves and defended the institution of slavery, as well as how slaveholders in the South used Bible verses to justify limiting the rights of people based on their skin color.
The teacher who had used the book in her class, Kelli Kidwell, defended her choice by arguing Stamped is used for offering one perspective. She also noted several speeches made by the Founding Fathers are also used in her classes.
“‘I don’t like his tone.’ ‘I don’t agree with his thinking.’ ‘Good. Now, show me where he’s being angry. Give me a piece of textual evidence,’” Kidwell said, describing the arguments her students used in the classroom to dispute the book’s claims.
It was banned from New Hanover classrooms in September of 2023, though allowed to remain in high school libraries.
The 2016 book follows lesser-known public figures and thinkers throughout American history, tracing three ideas it describes as “racist, assimilationist, and anti-racist” and ultimately recommending to readers to become “anti-racist.” It received mostly positive reviews from historians, praising its accuracy and concision.
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Author: Kristina Watrobski
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