Invisible Man
Written by Ralph Ellison in 1952, the novel has been described as a masterpiece that captured the grim realities of racial discrimination as no book had. The book won the National Book Award in 1953, yet it went through decades of intellectual criticism and was subsequently banned in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Washington. In 2013, a Randolph County, North Carolina, school board banned the novel after complaints from a parent, who said the book is “filthier” and “too much for teenagers.”
The school voted to ban the book, with one board member reportedly saying that he did not find any literary value. The decision was rescinded on September 25, returning the book to local high school libraries.
