'Huckleberry Finn' pulled from classes after parent complains

The Lansing State Journal ^ | November 3, 2006 | AP

[Stoat]

'Huckleberry Finn' pulled from classes after parent complains

Associated Press

 

TAYLOR - Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been pulled from high school classes after a parent of a black student complained that a teacher had students read portions aloud.

There is only one black child in the English class where the book, which contains racial slurs, was read aloud and acted out, The Detroit News reported Thursday.

The book will remain on the shelves at Taylor School District's high schools. The district's curriculum committee will recommend to the school board whether the book should have a future in district classrooms.

"We want to be sensitive to how the children feel," said Lynette Sutton, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction.

The 1880s novel about a white boy's first-person account of his adventures along the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim has long been controversial because of its use of racial slurs and its representations of blacks and women.

[wardaddy]

Sam Clemens!

You racist pig!

brought to ya by the same lovelies who have been on Dixie for a generation now....

[Unassuaged]

“The fact is, if there are racial slurs, it doesn’t belong in a public school.”

I can see your point, but no other book even came close to opening my eyes to racism and it’s history as well as Huck and Tom Saywer. Made me think at a young age.

[Jorge]

Good point. I never thought about it that way.

It's been so long since I read them.