Anthony Hatcher is an associate professor of communications at Elon University. Below he shares his view on the rationale of the Randolph County, N.C., school board in banning Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel “Invisible Man” from its schools.

Last week, the board reversed itself in a special meeting reported in detail by the Randolph Guide.

Here is an excerpt: Please read the full story before commenting:

To begin the special meeting, Attorney to the Board Jill Wilson advised that in considering book challenges, it's important that the board understand the legalities before making a decision.  "This is your Constitution in action," she said, and book challenges are a Constitutional issue. She said personal opinion doesn't matter when the First Amendment rights of students is the focus.

Wilson broke it down into the "free market of ideas" and consideration of whether the book in question has value. "Does this material warrant removal?" she said should be the question. "In an advanced placement or upper level, does the book have pedagogical value? Is there a less radical way to deal with it rather than removal?"

English teachers Justine Carter and Courtney Davis both testified as to the value of "Invisible Man" in the classroom. Not only does the novel demonstrate an uncomfortable period in our history, Carter said, but students can look at writing style, which is important in exams. Davis said "Invisible Man" reflects the culture in our history and "makes students think. It's recommended for use in history classes."

Lambeth was the first to speak of the five board members who had voted to ban the book. Emily Coltrane and Todd Cutler had voted against the ban. "I apologize for myself for not seeking counsel (before voting)," he said. "That was my shortcoming."

Lambeth admitted to having grown up in a "muted background, a privileged white background." He said he first read "Invisible Man" as a college freshman and received insight that not everybody has the same experience as he had. Lambeth said he still takes issue with the rape and incest in the book, saying he knows people who have experienced that and have deep scars. "We're the product of our experiences … our decisions are a direct reflection of our experiences. Since having sought out counsel, I appreciate the exchange," he said. "I'm open to reconsidering."

He said his question was: "What trumps, a child's First Amendment right, or my perspective?"

Tracy Boyles said he wondered as early as driving home from the Sept. 16 meeting about whether he made the right decision by voting to ban the book. "I realized from emails … I can't cast my morals on someone else. That's the parent's responsibility.

The only member of the board to remain firm was Gary Mason, who said he "pondered this for several days.”

“I've dedicated the majority of my adult life to the protection of others," said the former Asheboro police chief. "My obligation is to make a choice in the best interests of the child. In reviewing the book, I'm concerned with the language (and the sexual situations). I read the book again and still have the opinion it's not appropriate for children. I stand on what I feel."

With that background, here is the essay by Elon's Anthony Hatcher:

By Anthony Hatcher

The Randolph County School Board in North Carolina got a jump on Banned Books Week, which was last week, when earlier this month it banished Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel “Invisible Man” from its public schools. According to news reports, the book’s removal resulted from one protesting parent – one – who felt the book was “too much for teenagers.”

 “You must respect all religions and point of views when it comes to the parents and what they feel is age appropriate for their young children to read, without their knowledge,” parent Kimiyutta Parson wrote to the board, which voted 5-2 on Sept. 16 to ban the book, one of three options on Randleman High School juniors’ summer reading list.

 Ten days later, in the glare of a national media spotlight, the board reversed its decision during a special meeting, voting 6-1 to keep the book on the library shelves. Closer to home, the ban had been opposed by the Randolph County chapter of the NAACP, and a local book store distributed free copies of the book to high schoolers.

 The parent who leveled the original complaint reportedly also objected to the book’s coarse language and sexual content. The Amazon.com review of “Invisible Man” sums up the plot neatly: “A classic from the moment it first appeared in 1952, ‘Invisible Man’ chronicles the travels of its narrator, a young, nameless black man, as he moves through the hellish levels of American intolerance and cultural blindness.” Do those who wish to ban books from school libraries believe that doing so will shield teens from undesirable language, bawdy images and intolerance?

 Perhaps we should encourage teens to read “Invisible Man” rather than watch “Dancing with the Stars.” Why that particular program? A colleague told me that her students tell her that “Dancing” is a show they can watch with their parents, so she decided to tune in to see what she had been missing. What she saw was highly sexualized dance routines that seemed at time inappropriately suggestive, especially in prime time. My colleague is a parent but has not clamored for the censoring of the show, understanding that others do not share her views.

 TV is not the same as school, thankfully. And don’t get me started on Miley Cyrus.

 Banning a piece of classic literature, though, published a dozen years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, deprives students of the historical context of social and racial repression and its lingering effects.

 I grew up working in my father’s drug store in Kenansville, a small rural town in eastern North Carolina. As a kid I devoured the new comic books that came in every week. When I was about 12, a customer saw me choosing some comics off the magazine rack and went to my dad, who was filling prescriptions behind the counter.

 “Do you think Anthony should be reading those comic books?” she asked.  

“At least he’s reading,” my father replied. I have moved on to New Yorker-style humor, and am proud of my collection of cartoon volumes.

 When I was in high school, I discovered in our small library Down Beat magazine, a publication that I credit with sparking my lifelong love of jazz. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to hear some wonderful musicians, and I got to meet Dave Brubeck, among others. What a pity it would have been if someone had banned Down Beat, saying the drug-fueled lifestyle of jazz music was inappropriate for a teenager to read about.

 I became an English major and later a journalist. I taught a couple of years of high school, and now I’m a college professor. I own books of every description, including a 1911 edition of “Phantom of the Opera,” books by local authors and hundreds of other works ranging from paperback mysteries to classics. Some of these I read first as a teen and have revisited them over the years. Books have enriched my life immensely.

 In a world in which I actually have to teach many students coming out of high school the difference between a novel and a work of nonfiction, I see little harm in allowing our schools to stock difficult works of literature. I am pleased that cooler heads prevailed in this case, and “Invisible Man” is back in the school library.

 Let’s hope it doesn’t always take the prospect of a book banning to remind us of how important reading is, no matter how difficult the subject matter.