Yes, To Kill a Mockingbird Is Banned!
ISBN: 9780060935467
Harper Lee’s 1960 novel tells the story of Atticus Finch, a white lawyer in Depression-era Alabama who defends a Black man falsely accused of rape, all seen through the eyes of his young daughter Scout. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. The book has been a staple of American high school curricula for decades, which makes its ban history all the more striking.
The challenges come from both sides. In 2017, Biloxi, Mississippi pulled it from the 8th-grade curriculum after a parent complained the language “made people uncomfortable.” In 2020, Burbank Unified School District in California removed it from required reading lists alongside four other novels after parents objected to the use of racial epithets. Accomack County, Virginia temporarily pulled it in 2016 for the same reasons. In 2023, teachers in Washington’s Mukilteo School District tried to remove it, arguing it presented a “white savior” narrative harmful to students of color. The book has been challenged from the right for being too progressive and from the left for not being progressive enough.
Why You Should Read This
There’s a reason this book makes everyone uncomfortable. It’s supposed to. Lee wrote about a town that thought it was decent while doing monstrous things, and she didn’t flinch from the language people actually used. Sanitizing that language would sand down the very thing that makes the book cut.
Scout Finch is 6 years old and already sharper than most of the adults around her. She watches her father stand up for what’s right and lose. She watches her neighbors choose cowardice. She watches a man die because the system was built to kill him. That’s not a comfortable story, and it shouldn’t be.
The people banning this book keep proving its point. A novel about the danger of silencing uncomfortable truths keeps getting silenced because it contains uncomfortable truths. Lee would’ve appreciated the irony. Or maybe she wouldn’t have. She wasn’t much for irony. She was more for just telling it straight.
Why Was It Banned?
Where Was It Banned?
Read It Anyway
The best response to a book ban is reading the book. Here's where to get it:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is To Kill a Mockingbird banned?
Yes, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned or challenged in 88 documented instances across 5 states in the United States, including Mississippi, California, Virginia, Washington, Minnesota. It remains one of the most frequently challenged books in America.
Why was To Kill a Mockingbird banned?
To Kill a Mockingbird has been challenged and banned for the following reasons: Racial Content, Profanity, Age Inappropriateness. These challenges have come from school boards, libraries, and parent groups seeking to restrict access to the book.
Where is To Kill a Mockingbird banned?
As of 2025, To Kill a Mockingbird has been banned or challenged in Mississippi, California, Virginia, Washington, Minnesota. Notable bans include Biloxi Public School District (2017), Burbank Unified School District (2020), Accomack County Public Schools (2016).