Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye has been removed from school media centers in Georgia’s Cobb County School District over concerns about sexually explicit content involving child rape and incest.
What did the Cobb County Superintendent say about the book’s removal?
Cobb County Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the decision Sept. 17, saying the district determined that passages in Morrison’s 1970 novel were inappropriate for students, according to the school’s website.
The district specifically cited pages 161-163, which depict the rape of an 11-year-old girl by her father. Ragsdale defended the decision during a school board meeting.
“The words speak for themselves,” Ragsdale said. “Both as a father and as a superintendent, I think about a parent having to explain to their sixth-grade daughter after she encounters explicit descriptions of child incest and rape in a book provided at school, without parents’ knowledge.”
He also said the district must consider all students’ parents when determining what materials are available in schools.
“As the superintendent responsible for the instruction of 100,000 children, I do not have the luxury of making that decision for other parents and their children,” he said.
The book’s history and its challenges in schools nationwide
The district’s library policy allows designated staff to review school library materials and gives parents a right to raise concerns about books. The policy also stated that materials should align with the district’s educational goals and comply with state law, including restrictions on material considered harmful to minors, per the website.
The Bluest Eye follows Pecola Breedlove, a young Black girl who longs for blue eyes and blond hair while growing up amid racism, poverty and abuse.
The novel has been challenged in schools and libraries across the country because of its depictions of sexual abuse, incest and other traumatic experiences.
In February 2022, Blavity reported that the Wentzville school board in St. Louis, Missouri, had reversed its initial 4-3 vote in January to ban the book after facing a federal class-action lawsuit filed by two students. At the same time, Morrison’s work has become a significant part of American literature and is frequently taught in schools and colleges.
The Cobb County School District said the removal is effective immediately across its schools. Other works by Morrison will remain available to students.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Bluest Eye is the 37th book removed from Cobb County school libraries since 2023.