Intellectual Freedom in Round Rock
Texas/SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award

The following is the text of comments by Jenniffer Hudson-Bethel in presenting the 1997 SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award to Mary Ellen Scribner at the TLA 1997 Annual Conference in Fort Worth, April 11.

Advocating intellectual freedom and inclusive multicultural education in the Round Rock Independent School District is especially challenging due to the very active and influential radical right in the community, which has had up to three members at one time on the school board. This year’s recipient of the TLA/SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award has consistently stood firm in the face of this chilling climate, even though she and her family felt the need to change church membership when her early efforts gained "negative" publicity.

A serious challenge to the placement of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on the pre-AP reading list at Westwood High School triggered the tension as parents pursued the challenge through the steps outlined in the district’s selection policy, a policy which this year’s recipient helped develop. The decision was to retain the book on the reading list and allow for alternate selections, as well as to permit the parent group to write their own annotations for the books on the list. Although the formally stated objections to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings were "pornography," "profanity," and the "promotion of a lesbian lifestyle," it became clear that, had this challenge to African American author Maya Angelou been successful, they were preparing to move on to Hispanic American author Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, and Native American author N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn. Of particular concern to our recipient was the fact that one couple had written that as alternative reading they would recommend "anything about Nazi Germany." This situation motivated our recipient to action through the Diversity Advisory Council which she had founded earlier on her campus. She has created a monthly booklet with ideas for teachers to add a multicultural element to the classroom. She coordinates the observance of African American Read-In Chain activities and inspired the annual celebration of American Mosaic Week.

When our recipient saw an appeal on the Internet from Nancy Gardner’s attorney for letters of support for Gardner’s book Annie on My Mind, a love story between two young women, she immediately wrote of her experience with this book. And I quote from her letter:

One particular student always comes to mind when I think about Annie. This young woman attended Westwood in the mid-1980s and was obviously struggling with the issue of her sexuality. I included Annie in the four or five books I showed her when she first came to get a fiction book for a report She selected Annie, of course, and read it several times a year until she graduated. She would always ask if there were any other books like it, and I would then suggest other titles which she would read. After she read them, we would agree that ‘It was good, but not as good as Annie.’ I believed then and I believe now that having access to Annie on My Mind had a significant impact on that young woman’s life.

The author’s response to this letter contained news of the victory in the challenge in Kansas courts, and she gratefully noted, "It is good to know that Annie has such a good friend in Texas." Not only is Annie lucky to have such a friend in Texas, but so are all us who realize the importance of intellectual freedom! The TLA/SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award consists of a plaque honoring the occasion as well as a $500 check for the recipient and $500 to the library or media center of the recipient’s choice.* On behalf of Elliot and Eleanor Goldstein, the publishers of SIRS, please join me in honoring Mary Ellen Scribner, this year’s recipient.

*Ms. Scribner has selected Westwood High School.