The League of Women Voters of New Castle County invites you to our monthly TED Discussion, held on third Saturdays via Zoom web conference.

The meeting format is to watch the TED Talk and then discuss the "Ideas Worth Sharing." Contact discussion moderator Kay Palmer or the League Office for details.

March Topic - One of the Most Banned Books of All Time

At present there is a lot of activity in the state of Florida regarding the banning of books in the schools along with other restrictions in their version of “Freedom.” However, this is not the first go round with book banning.

The Ted Talk for this month comes from the TED-ED division. This talk is an original lesson that features the words and ideas of Mollie Godfrey that have been brought to life by professional animators. The animation presentation highlights a book that was banned in 1998. In that year, it was the Maryland School District that was leading the charge for banning books that ‘they’ felt needed to be censored and silenced. One of the books that was censored was “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou. It was felt that the subject of the rape of a seven and half year old girl was too taboo to discuss. As Ms. Angelou points out; (they) “act as if their children are not faced with the same threats.” Or is the beauty of literature a means of giving children a mechanism to identify with the characters in the books to sort through their own childhood confusion?

Join us in the discussion of the TED ED Talk, “One of the Most Banned Books of All Time” and explore why this memoir was thought to be so controversial along with the subject of banning books in general. Preregister for the virtual March 18th, 2023 at 10:00 EST conversation using the link provided above.