Where the pages meet the bind, so does a decades-old argument about what many describe as an American literary classic: “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
The book, authored by white American novelist Harper Lee, has been at the forefront of criticisms across the nation in libraries and schools for several years, specifically for the text containing racial slurs and derogatory language and for the book’s depiction of racism.
Local schools have not escaped the controversy surrounding Lee’s book and her language choices.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is re-evaluating how the book is taught in its own classrooms throughout the district — nearly 20 years after the district pulled the plug on Columbus East High School’s planned production of the novel’s play version after community members vehemently protested.
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BCSC Director of Secondary Education Bill Jensen was principal at East in 2003 when local black residents and the NAACP protested the high school’s planned production of a stage version of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
In a statement released by Jensen in 2003, he said the drama director “did all that she could early in the year” to have play publishers approve the removal of the racial slurs from the play.
However, Jensen said he knew whatever decision made then would not please everyone.
“It was now a matter of being criticized for being overly sensitive to racial issues and claims of censorship by canceling the play,” Jensen said, “or being criticized for being insensitive to racial issues by continuing the play despite the lack of support of the local NAACP.”
Columbus East alum Jerome Wood was cast to portray the character of Tom Robinson, a black man arrested and charged with rape and assault, in the 2003 production.
Just last month, several members of the black community expressed concern with BCSC’s continuing use of the novel in its curriculum. The discussion took place during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day panel event in Columbus where Wood was a panelist.
“My parents had of course asked me, ‘How do you feel about being in the play?’ Wood recalled. “At the end of the day, I was very close with the other cast members so I knew it wasn’t something directed out of hate or anything, that was intentional toward me — Jerome — but it was the character, so it wasn’t bothering me.”
A number of black residents in the audience said that the pain of their child hearing racial slurs — including the N-word, which is used nearly 50 times in “To Kill A Mockingbird” — canceled out any literary power the novel could carry, The Republic reported on Jan. 23.
Looking back, Wood said if the play caused as much of an uproar as it did in Columbus in 2003, he doesn’t see the purpose of using the book in classrooms.
“My main reason behind that is for the main reason that it was worth the conversation back then because of the one word,” Wood said. “That one word is enough to get an entire play shut down and to spark (debate) — we talked about that for half the panel about that one book. If it’s causing that much of an uproar, why not just get rid of the book?”
He said he sees more teachable moments in the book than just Atticus Finch being a hero. For example, Wood recalled the courage and strength Tom Robinson showed when he didn’t fight back, not once raising a fist or his voice against the people ridiculing him.
Wood said there are always going to be people who stand up for others and see the good in people, but he said there aren’t a lot of people like Tom Robinson who take the ridicule, despite knowing they’re innocent.
“To me, that was more of the teachable moment than just looking at the fact that Atticus stood up for this man,” Wood said.
What’s the goal?
When BCSC officials learned recently that “To Kill A Mockingbird” was being read aloud in a whole classroom setting, the district started to evaluate how teachers were using the practice of reading aloud in their classrooms.
“The fact that ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is being read and a word is said, that can make an individual in a classroom feel very uncomfortable,” BCSC Superintendent Jim Roberts said.
That extends further to any child in a classroom where a book is being read aloud in an entire group setting where all students are participating, he said. There is a possibility that the practice may not be positive for students, he said.
“When we look at any kind of whole group where one size fits all like reading aloud, you have students who are not going to be comfortable with that because there are English-language learners, or they’re students with some kind of disability …,” Roberts said. “It’s just not a good whole group instruction format where one size fits all, and this district is not one size fits all.”
Roberts said more discretion is used when reading “To Kill A Mockingbird” aloud, especially regarding the language.
“That word is in there a number of times,” Roberts said. “That is a cause of concern, and it can be a cause for concern, especially again with everybody reading out loud. Every parent wants their kid to feel safe, valued, treated with dignity in the classroom. That’s why you’ve got to be super sensitive in dealing with materials especially with the N-word in it.”
Beyond the practice of reading this book — or any book — aloud, Jensen said it’s also important to look at the book’s internal themes.
“Who’s the hero in it?” Jensen said. “What color is the hero in the book? A white person saving a black person. A white man saving a black man. Let’s tell stories about black heroes who are helping black people or even white people or humanity. Are there better choices?” he asked.
Jensen said when evaluating why and how the book is taught, it comes down to two goals: Is “To Kill A Mockingbird” — or any book for that matter — being used to achieve a skill or a content goal?
He defined a skill goal as a goal meant to develop a literal skill, such as reading, writing or typing. A content goal is aimed at understanding the concepts of a part of the curriculum, whether it be literature, science or math.
“That’s where you start thinking is ‘what’s the goal?’ ” Jensen said. “Then make sure that your instruction aligns with that goal.”
Roberts said that instruction should also align with the Universal Design for Learning, meaning not every student should be doing the same thing, but instead giving students choices to help them be more engaged.
An example of a content goal in relation to “To Kill A Mockingbird” is understanding the story as having the theme of social justice. Jensen said teachers have choices for how to go about learning that topic.
In the classroom
Chasidy Kannianen, Columbus East High School English chair, said the book is taught a little bit differently in each classroom. She said teaching “To Kill A Mockingbird” involves some pre-teaching to help students wrap their heads around what society looked like during the time period that’s reflected in the book.
Some classes also use different versions of the text depending on students’ skill level. For example, some teachers teach the full-text version of the story while others opt for an adapted version or the play version. The book, however, is not mandated by the district. Teachers have some options for how they want to teach a particular topic and what text they want to use.
“One of the things is the message that it sends, the themes that it carries are really relevant to today and applicable in so many ways,” Kannianen said. “That’s one of the reasons I always hear teachers say that they feel like they need to hold on to it.”
The historical connection of who Americans were during that time period is something Kannianen said could be forgotten and repeated without books like “To Kill A Mockingbird.” She said it’s not so much about comprehending what the story is about as much as it is about us as a society, as a country and the progress the country has made and what’s left to be done.
As for the use of derogatory language, Kannianen said the N-word is not used in the classroom. She said some teachers show a video prior to reading the book to show that the word does not have a place in the classroom.
“It is a word that does carry a lot of power,” Kannianen said. “We talk about the power of words and the words that we choose and the power those words have, but also not letting those words always have the power.”
“I think that’s the struggle that we’ve seen the school and community face is sometimes in the past, communities just want to focus on that word and they give a lot more power to that word than I think is given in the actual classroom.”
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Harper Lee
Born: April 28, 1926
Died: Feb. 19, 2016
Hometown: Monroeville, Ala.
Published books: "To Kill A Mockingbird" (1960); "Go Set a Watchman" (2015)
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for fiction (1961); Presidential Medal of Freedom (2007)
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- "People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for."
- "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."
- "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
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"To Kill A Mockingbird" is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression era. Jean Louis "Scout" Finch and her brother Jeremy Atticus "Jem" are raised by their widowed father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer.
Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson, one of the town’s black residents, who is falsely accused of raping a white woman.
The book is considered an American literary classic for its exploration of moral human nature and the importance of doing good.
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In 1981, three black parents resigned from the township Human Relations Advisory Council after the Warren County, Indiana, school administration refused to remove "To Kill A Mockingbird" from its junior high classes. The parents said the book “does psychological damage to the positive integration process and represents institutionalized racism,” according to the American Library Association’s list of efforts to ban literary works.
The Cherry Hill Board of Education in New Jersey banned the book for objections to the novel’s depictions of how black people are treated by members of a racist white community, citing they “feared the book would upset black children reading it.”
And in 2016, Accomack County School District in Virginia removed the book from its libraries, along with Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” after a parent shared her concerns at a school board meeting.
Eighth graders in Biloxi, Mississippi, are no longer required to read the book after the school board decided to remove it from the school’s curriculum following complaints about the book’s use of racial slurs. That decision was made in 2017.
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