Today’s ALSC Board meeting was jam-packed with important business, but the final item on the agenda was obviously what the audience in attendance was waiting for; discussion of the ALSC Awards Program Review Task Force Recommendation: Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. The task force — chaired by Megan Schliesman and consisting of members Rita Auerbach, Chrystal Carr Jeter, Sophie Kenney, Starr Latronica & Kristen Suagee-Beauduy — had prepared an excellent, comprehensive, and thoughtful report <available on ALA Connect> which included recommendations for a possible course of action, potential award names, and a clearly written rationale. The report also included the methodology of a survey offered to ALSC members, members of ALA ethnic affiliates, and others. A summary of the survey with a sampling of the comments about changing the name was also included.
After Board discussion, there was a call for a vote.
In summary, the ALSC Board unanimously voted that the ALSC Board accept the ALSC Awards Program Review Task Force’s Recommendation about the Wilder Award,, renaming the award as the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. **
This vote was greeted by a standing ovation by the audience in attendance.
Woo-Hoo!!!! It made me so proud to be an ALSC member and a Board Member!
**The full text of the motion which was voted on and passed unanimously was “the ALSC Board accept recommendation option 1, part 1 of the ALSC Awards Program Review Task Force’s Wilder Award Report, renaming the award as the Children’s Literature Legacy Award; option 1, part 2 with an expanded definition in the revised manual; and option 1, part 3 as written.“
Laura McLemore.
This makes me extremely sad. Such a disservice to the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Debra R. Messick
Why was this done?
Laura Coon
This name change came as a result of a recommendation from a task force established earlier this year by the ALSC board to look at the overall ALSC awards program within the context of the division’s core values and strategic plan.
For anyone to imply this was something done by the ALSC board as a disservice to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s legacy is simply wrong. Laura Ingalls Wilder was and remains the first recipient of the Wilder award.
The board when setting up the taskforce to review the ALSC awards not only reaffirmed the honor Wilder and all the other Wilder award recipients’ deserve for their substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. The board also committed to preserving access to Wilder’s work for readers even as they acknowledged her legacy isn’t universally embraced by all and her work is often cited for including both anti-Native and anti-Black sentiments.
Renaming the Wilder award to something which better reflects what the award is honoring and why it is being bestowed on an author or illustrator seems like a no-brainer to me. Renaming the award the Children’s Literature Legacy Award seems like a perfect decision. Great decision ALSC board, I applaud you.
Betty
If it really isnt important, why is the board so very excited and pleased over the vote? It matters because the next step is to remove all her works completely and wipe all traces of it from literature. This is a sad day and a sad decision!
Roxanne Feldman
There are no plans to “remove” her books from libraries or homes. No fears. YOu can continue loving her work.
Bill Coleman
This decision is a disgrace. No pre-21st century author can meet these standards.
Elana Leanna
Exactly. Disgraceful!
Euler
They will probably get involved to change the Holy Bible ! AND – get away with it.
Jerry Azia
Dear Laura
Shame on you
Gary Hondel
I’d rather win a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. People know who that was and that would be an honor to be associated with her legacy. It was renamed because of politically correct nonsense.
Deanna
Thank you for an INFORMED reply.
Hudson Ynez
Such a blatant and obvious attack on Christian values wrapped up in political correctness garbage. What’s next re-writing history because it hurt someone’s feelings?! Pathetic.
Furthermore, the only reason the “ruling elites” want you to remove historical fact and Christianity is so that your up and coming One World government (New World Order) will have full control over your mind and thoughts with no reference to the past. You fell right into their trap – bravo. Thankfully, God’s people’s and our redemption is nigh!
Debi Konkoly-Thege
Agree!
Rick
I agree with you. Talk about revisionist history. Are these the same people who would vote for the Ohio Senatorial candidate who claims the holocost didn’t really happen?
Doylene Novak
It was not a “great decision”. Far from it. Over reactions to things like this are doing more to increase racism in this country than anything else. As I recall it Laura always stood up for Native Americans and African Americans. If some of her terminology is not considered “politically correct” in today’s society then it might be well to remember it all happened 150 years ago! I remember when it was correct to call the Americans in question American Indians and blacks. But now those terms have been replaced also! When is this all going to stop, or where?? Is the Bible next? So sad that an author who has meant so much to do many has been disgraced so unfairly. Shame on you all.
Debbie Leftwich
No, those of us who are disgusted by your move are not wrong. We are well-read people with open minds who understand how time changes our own perceptions. We don’t need self-serving adults to make choices for us. How sad you people couldn’t recommend using these books as teaching tools. Even sadder that you’d strip her name from the award. The books haven’t changed since her name was chosen.
John
The board applied “its”core values to change the name based on books that were written in the context of the time. “Universally embraced” and other phrases all indicate this is a decision founded in political correctness and divisive thought. Historically, such phrases could have been used by slavery proponents to surpress freedom by renaming awards and other methods against anti-slavery advocate writers and it would still be wrong. Universally embraced thinking is dangerous in any context and applying such standards ecourages division and exclusion.
It is a poor decision that is meant to please the board’s base. It has no foundation in education science. It is wrong.
CJS3
Because it’s easier and less traumatic to their public image than piling up her works and burning them.
luchia
Because too many people are passive and are not fighting
Eliza
Looks to me like lots of people are not passive and are fighting. If you listen to the news that is all that is going on Angry people protesting and protesting and calls for violence against people of differing views. What imo is needed is not fighting but dialogue which can be done in school settings or where ever books are read. The purpose of literature is to learn. That is why it is important to let ALL VOICES be heard. No need for fighting. How about dialogue. What was done is a subtle form of censorship.
Beverly
Totally agree and reLly not the wishes of the majority of America s. A total disgrace.
Mark
Welcome to more of the 1984 mentality ! Let just rewrite history and change the language, so no special little snowflakes get there wittle feelings hurt.
Eric Hall
They’ve banned “1984”, so no one knows the reference .
Roxanne Feldman
ALA does not BAN books. We publish books banned/challenged by institutions.
Lisa Ben-Reuven
That is true. However, changing the name of the award is a form of censorship. As a librarian, I feel disappointed that the ALA would remove Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from an award. How can the ALA say it’s against censorship when it’s doing itself?
John Brock
What has been done falls just short of a ban. I call it a pseudo ban. By removing the author’s name, the ALSC and the ALA have placed a stamp of disapproval on the work, effectively rejecting it instead of an outright ban. Very similar to what “separate but equal” did to African Americans. The ALSC and the ALA have used the same politically driven tactic that hate groups use to accomplish its objective by saying the author’s work is separate but equal, without actually saying it. The decision was politically driven with no basis in childhood learning.
Sherre e Ruston
Amen! It is so crazy to me how we are putting our 2018 standards on literature that was written in a different time.
Steven Moshlak
Political correctness is tyranny, with manners.
-Charlton Heston
You have to wonder why education has taken it in the shorts, over the past 40+ years.
Linda
Agreed. Kids love the books,. it’s adults that make a big deal of it. Kids don’t even think about that stuff. And that’s how it was and she wad a child herself. Her remembering how it was
Debbie Reese
What kids, Linda? Not mine, for sure.
Kelly
Your kids always think about how words affect others?
Your kids always think about how history should be rewritten to reflect a few individuals’ perceived utopia?
Katie Cobb
I totally agree!!
Gary Hondel
AGREED!
Janet Bean
I totally agree with you. Such a disservice to her legacy.
Michael
It’s very despicable that this so-called “organization” thinks this of such a wonderful author.
Dianne Horsley
Are we coming to censoring “children’s books”? This is ridiculous! Knowing about the changing times in our history is important to know, even if they show prejudice or whatever! These books are memories of Ingalls’s childhood, for heaven’s sake! is this ALSC board going to vote down works such as Mark Twain or Harriet Beecher Stowe? Task Force my eye!
Annemarie Pappas
I agree, people were different back then, thought different, did things different. As times move forward people also change and begin to change opinions. History is just that history, it’s what makes us who we are, and teaches who we use to be before the change. Laura Ingalls wrote how her life was way back then, it’s how it was, can’t change it can only learn from it. People need to stop judging and just learn from history on what we shouldn’t be doing now. I’ll continue supporting Laura Ingalls books, because they’ve taught myself and my children how times have been harder than we have it now, and how far we’ve come to change the way people use to act and feel towards those different than us.
Mary O’Brien
I too, wonder why we are eliminating legacy awards that were named after women who made an impact on the lives of so many. I’m sad for the Ingall and Wilder families. Her contribution to children’s literature is worthy of her legacy award.
Beverly
Totally agree all about the minority liberal activists being politically correct.
Linda
Agreed. Sad day. Kids don’t think about such stuff its adults that make it an issue
Renee Mongillo
Bravo! I agree! I wrote something below…I’m so sad and aghast!
Bev
Yes. Her books were the very first series I ever read. And I had to beg my school librarian to let me take out These Happy Golden Years , the series last….because it was shelved separately in the highest grade section due to the adult (marriage) content! If today’s society erases all evidence of past errors and evils, we leave the future wide open to repeat them!
Ilene Mindlin
Mary, they are not eliminating a legacy award. Just changing its name. I doubt the ALSC would ever suggest that Laura Ingall Wilder’s books should not be read.
Not sure I agree with the name change, though. It seems an unnecessary move. It would certainly not be inappropriate for teachers to discuss that thinking was different back then and that today we have different standards. Definitely a worthy topic of discussion.
Vicky Smith
As a White person who grew up reading and loving the Little House books, I did not see what so many of readers of color and Indigenous readers saw—until it was pointed out to me. Then I imagined being a Native child reading how Laura and her family perceived my people or a Black child reading about Pa dressing up in blackface.
This award is for a significant and lasting contribution to American literature for children. As a board member who considered and then voted on this motion, I could not support the retention of a name that I don’t believe is inclusive of all the many children in all our communities.
Beth Saxton
Thank you for your work on this.
Sandra Schauf
Shame on you! How disgusting!
Gothguy
So, in other words, you are projecting, because you imagined, perceived, and it wasn’t ‘inclusive.’ Do you feel the same about Marx, Trotsky, Castro, or Lenin?
Gothgirl
❤️
Tony
Why don’t you just go ahead and burn every book that hurts your feelings?
Elizabeth
Touche!
Beverly
You don’t represent the majority
Sandra Schauf
You are right. They are representing a MINORITY and that’s it.
Sandra Schauf
Back in those days it was very different from the way we live now. You can not take it upon yourselves to tell everyone that you have a superior moral and are “gods” to be able to be able to discern the real truth and thoughts and behavior that was going on in that time. Are you related to Hitler or Marx or Obama???
Mc
Then you should eliminate books written by black authors or other “ethnic” groups who depict negativity toward white
Or other races.
Disgraceful. These books are great pieces of literature. This is a perception of a few. Are you going to just burn all books you don’t agree with or that you judge as inappropriate? Many think what you did here
Was inappropriate.
Therese
No one eliminaring and books. Onlynthe award name was changed. And can you provide examples of children’s books bynAfrican American authors that treat caucasian people poorly.
Kristal
It’s called, “History!” History could be and often was ugly and horrible. It was also beautiful and memorable. We are supposed to study it so that we learn about and from it. If you people keep purging all the bad, how will anyone ever learn? The past will simply keep repeating itself. You can’t judge yesterday’s people by today’s standards.
Erin Cronan
Does it stop here Vicky? Look at the date when the book series was written! Look at the times it was written in. How about the writtings of Mark Twain? Was the book little women offensive? Or to kill a mocking bird? Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote books that encouraged girls to read. It encouraged me to write short stories. I gave the entire book series to my niece when she was ten. At the age of thirty, she still has it. She loves that set. First it was statues and now books. I wonder when they will paint over the Mona Lisa!
Pamela
Let’s strike Robert Howard, who invented the dot-matrix printer, from the history books! OMG, how could he have developed such a slow, difficult to read, clunky printer – we have Wi-Fi Laser printers now!!!
Do you not understand that we are lucky to have evolved from that time period to now? That does not mean you strip significant individuals of their awards they earned during their time period! We could not have evolved to where we are now without the contributions from the past, we just need to look at her works and other’s efforts throughout history’s –
Iike, Robert Howard, as a part of our history and not how we should be living our lives today. I’m not giving up my Wi-Fi Laser printer, air conditioning or planning to start wearing long dresses and button-up shoes just because I read one of her books. Why would I go backwards and treat individuals any differently because of her books? When children read these books, it presents opportunities to discuss history and how we have evolved.
Alexis Major
But does it change history? That’s the point! I don’t understand what you are trying to accomplish. Change history by discrediting an accomplished author because you are afraid you are going to hurt people’s feelings? History is History, albeit it can be ugly at times, you learn from it. Are you going to ban Mark Twain next for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn? If you change it and make it look like it never happened how do you learn????? I really don’t understand this mentality! I love history and I learn a great deal from cultures based on this. Somethings are ugly but It gives me a better perspective on feelings and how things were perceived in those times. I have traveled an enormous amount and have lived in another country. My father was an immigrant. I am way more interested in truth then sugar coated dung. Whether you like it or not I will expose my children to any of these books and authors so they have a better idea of how this world functions and functioned in order to learn! We discuss these ugly parts of history and learn!!! I absolutely refuse to raise snowflakes!
Eliza
As a Native American woman, who grew up reading the entire series by Laura Ingalls Wilder throughout my elementary years, I enjoyed the books and even at that young age, simply chose to not be offended. The comments in the books are a reflection of the time in which she lived, and the attitudes that prevailed. I was school aged before desegregation, I remember the words that were said and the attitudes that prevailed. Like it or not, racism is a part of American history. Removing the record of racism will not change the hearts and attitudes. Removing the evidence doesn’t change what happened . . . “Erasing the truth” of the past does not change the reality of history nor does it offer a realistic foundation for the future!
Stephanie Hasty
As an African-American who grew up reading her books, I agree with what you are saying, wholeheartedly. I find the whole idea of changing the name and making criteria to boot people from the list based on new criteria so scary and, yes, Orwellian (<–thanks whoever mentioned 1984).
Dee Dee
It’s history . It’s the “ truth “ . This is how Laura grew up . Look at the times when she wrote this . This is the way things were back then . You can’t give into people because their feelings get hurt over something so trivial as what is in Laura Ingalls books . Her books , of all books out there . Seriously ? People are trying to erase history . Laura’s books are history , a depiction of true history .
Kathy
You cannot change the fact that she made a HUGE impact on making young girls want to read. To diminish this by holding her accountable for standards she never experienced is very short sighted. It isn’t like she used hateful language or promoted racism. She wouldn’t have been named to this award in the first place if she had. She just wrote the time period as she experienced it. And while she did write about these experiences she didn’t focus in on them and blow them up. By removing her name from this award you are doing just that. We can’t change our history. How are we supposed to teach our children to not repeat that history if we discourage them from learning about it? By changing this award you are promoting that her books should not be read. That may not be your intent but it is what will happen.
Nora Tomlinson
What an utterly cowardly and intellectually dishonest justification for purging classic literature whose cultural portrayals were a reflection of its time, but which offend the ostentatious virtue-signaling of the *open minded* thought police. Newsflash: your pompous condescension to those same children you claim to want to protect is reflective of nothing other than the soft racism that suggests that Native Americans, blacks, et al., are somehow too stupid to comprehend —without the wisdom of their *intellectual betters*—that books like this are a reflection of perceptions in the long-ago past and that do not reflect contemporary times. They are a reflection of history, and thoughtful critical thinking would recognize that they reflect history, not *hate*. If your concern for those children is genuine, you would not work to deprive them of an authentic portrayal of history. By your standards, realistically, very few works of literature from the past would meet the totalitarian standards imposed by political correctness. Let me save you some work i the future….just buy a book of matches and hold a good old-fashioned book burning.
E
How is one to learn how times have changed if they don’t experience how the past was lived? Yes, it’s offensive. But it was the way life was back then. And that’s what needs to be discussed when a child reads the book. If you hide all the darkness of any race, you make that race appear pure. No race is pure. What you’re doing is the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish. Your hiding the examples of just how bad the past was in an attempt to save minority kids from harm. But you’re also hiding the fact that there have been improvements and keeping other kids from seeing how bad it was for the minorities. Not to mention that burning books is never a good idea. No matter who feels wronged by those books.
Honi Gottlieb
IT must be nice to whitewash history..
America is rich in a colorful history ..in that history is truth.. and the truths are evident even now…
When we came here we stole, murdered, raped and destroyed the Indian Nations as we ” bravely” yet violently took what we wanted to make it our own… and that is historical truth….
THERE was a CIVIL war…
THERE WAS SLAVERY …
Americans did awful things… to others and to each other and continue to do so… because that simply .. WAS what WAS …. and IS what IS……
This Board and its members got their panties in a twist because LIW describes … activities and ideals of her time…. that makes her less palatable for 2018 , for your sensitive selves that must skim truths and facts away from time long gone.. ( HISTORY) .. so you can gently digest… what was… instead of teach .. and educate.. and learn from…. what a true… disserve to children everywhere.. to assuage your sad souls… who will you hide next…Elie Weisel ??? because his stories also describe events in world history that were less that delicate !
Bev
I believe Laura was writing from her life observations describing them as accurately as she could and not passing judgement. I see her stories as a snapshot of a past I never knew…just as I do writings by Helen Keller and she, most assuredly, was “color-blind”! Let those without sin, cast the first stone.
Kaeryn
Frankly, your viewpoint is ridiculous. Books of historical significance include the author’s biases, and you are assuming that children are too dumb to see these biases for what they are. I grew up reading Wilder’s work, and identified some of the statements referenced in this decision as biases. I was 9 years old at the time. How are you EVER going to find ANY writer that does not exhibit biases that do not fit today’s perceptions of right and wrong? Do you really expect to read historical books whose writers sound JUST like today’s writers? If so, why have historical books in libraries at all? What historicsl writers will ever live up to today’s arrogant assumption that only by thinking and acting the way we do in THIS MOMENT that writers measure up? How foolish, preposterous, and arrogant this decision is.
Emilie
I couldn’t agree more.
Literacy Maven
Well stated. Often people blindly follow tradition without the benefit of research. I kindly give them the gift of goodbye from my world where I reside in the house of research. #ignoranceisbliss
Teresa Canon
Late Ingalls Wilder grew up in a very different time. You can’t sugarcoat history. Hers is a very accurate representation of the times, right or wrong. The stance of this committee is what’s wrong with our country. If we think it’s wrong, cover it up, remove it, pretend it didn’t happen.
Carrie Jordan
What a wonderful opportunity to discuss the enlightenment we now enjoy and to teach about why these type of attitudes needed to change. To understand the good, we must recognize the bad. By removing all reference to a negative we remove the teaching opportunity. How very sad.
Bill Coleman
The decision is ridiculous. No pre-21st century author can meet these standards.
Kelly
Really?
A few lines in a book, that were normal or expected with the time, were not acceptable to a few and you want to destroy the author one of the best series of books written by a strong woman.
How do people with such narrow-minded ideals get to decide what is best?
And these same people probably wonder why more money sent to education has done nothing but made our society less able.
John K
This is no less revisionist censorship than the Centennial school district in Oregon renaming three elementary schools that had the name “Lynch” (in homage to the Lynch family that donated the land for tne schools), because contemporary feelings, devoid of historical aporeciation, misinterpreted the word’s origin. For the ALA to stoop to this reactionary low is appalling. What literature predating the 21st century is safe from this wave of censorship?
Ron Wilkie
So, this is a nice way to write that you are ashamed to be white and removing the Wilder name somehow expunges your white guilt? That is a horrible reason to change the award name. This decision was nothing more than an overreaction to political correctness run amok. You are now faced with stubbornly holding onto your poor decision, I weep for you and all of the committee members who actually think you did society a service with this decision.
Elizabeth
Literature is about diversity, allowing all voice to be heard and recognized without moral or ethical spins. Think about this. Fairness in literature is BS. Many other writers can be challenged by some group for what they’ve written. Let children learn to be their own consumers of books. Take non violent power away form people in any form especially via books against the growth of the human spirit. . A lot of self rightousness patting each other on the shoulder for being such “good” people went into this decision. Lots of ego.
Wise Guy
You last sentence is spot on!
Nina Lindsay
As President of ALSC, I understand this will be a hard decision for many people to accept, while for others it is very welcome and a long time in coming. We will be providing more information in the near future, as we conclude conference and our travels home, and you can continue to watch http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/wildermedal for updates. Please understand it will take some time for us to update all sections of our website, etc.
For background on this decision, you may wish to read my blog posts from earlier this year:
https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2018/02/board-action-update-laura-ingalls-wilder-award/
https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2018/03/alsc-awards-program-review-update/
Gothguy
BLAH…BLAH…BLAH…typical leftist claptrap, masking as ‘inclusiveness’, which it isn’t. Typical PC bullshit.
Eric Hall
When did it become the task of your organization to become the arbiter of thought? Do you think Laura Ingles Wilder wrote words meant to hurt? Or was it an accurate portrayal of the mores of the time it was written, as most literature is? I find your boards actions reprehensible, and a pandering to a certain slice of society who think it would be best to bubble wrap children so they are never hurt or offended. Unfortunately, that is impossible due to the human condition. Changing the name of an award does nothing to change this fact. Shame on you and your board.
Nessa Roden
Thank you!❤❤❤
Jody Hanks
Well said. Laura Ingles Wilder’s books were written from the perspective of a child born in the waning years of the 19th century and the woman writing in the 1930s. In her later years Ms Wilder apologized for what she had grown to see as thoughtlessness in her writing with regard to these “stereotypical” characterizations, which demonstrates an evolution in her understanding of the world and her place in it. As the first recipient of this award, it’s fitting it remain named after her, especially in light of her changing perspective over the course of her life. I think it’s the American Library Association that has lost perspective.
Janet
This. Exactly.
Yvette
Well written, Eric. I agree with you!
Kim Stiens
re: Eric Hall: And people can, and will, keep reading the books! Look, they’re not saying that they’re gonna burn every copy of Little House on the Prairie so no one can ever read it again. They’re saying they no longer want to have an award for children’s literature named after someone who talked about natives and black folks the way Wilder did. You can believe the books are still overall good books, and want to keep them in the pantheon of children’s literature, without wanting to exalt them via having an award named after the author. The books need to be read with guidance, so children don’t internalize those attitudes and wield them against their fellow humans, and its very understandable to feel that a children’s literature award isn’t the way you want to discuss LEW anymore.
Ilene Mindlin
Exactly, Kim! It amazes me how so many commenters equate changing an award’s name with banning books. If they had decided to eliminate the award altogether, or to take away the award from Ms. Wilder, THEN I would be upset!
Although I am not sure it was necessary to change the name of the award, I still can understand the thinking behind it. Someone else pointed out that Laura Ingalls Wilder eventually apologized for the now outdated ideology portrayed in her books. I think that speaks for itself and is possibly a good reason NOT to have changed the award’s name.
Pauly Tee
Exactly my sentiments! Shameful to change the name.
Snarkie
Great work Nina! Show us how rewriting history to make it PC will make the world a better place!
If you feel this way about Laura there are many (like all of them) writers from the 19th and early 20th century that did not share our modern enlightened views. ALL need to be searched out and the books destroyed! As they might cause people to learn something!
Part Cherokee
I’m part Cherokee & this decision is BS. We know our history. You think we need you to cushion us from it?
Joya Prestamo
Why don’t you just add a new award instead of changing something that has been respected and given with honor? If you feel something is lacking develop something new. This just seems like controversy for controversy sake.
Marilyn
Absurd. Absolutely absurd. This writer introduced an entire generation of young readers to the joy of reading and to the realities of life on the prairie. That is HER legacy and it is a great one as is proven by the legion of young readers who still read her books. If you truly want to honor her legacy keep her name on the award; make it a teachable moment regarding the culture of the time instead of erasing her name.
Robert E Barnhart
Nina Lindsay, Big Sister of PC Reflective Thought
Eric Christen
It’s disgraceful that you allowed a loud, radical minority to inject this politically correct crap into your business. Try and justify it as you might, I am embarassed for you.
Jim
How about simply understanding the context of her environment that she wrote under? There was no evil intent to hurt anyone. Jeez…you soft PC people can turn anything into a hurt feeling. Pathetic decision…I assume you also want nothing to do with Mark Twain either?
Michael
It’s despicable. Bowing to the pressure of political correctness. Measuring people by today’s PC standards is ridiculous.
Aimee Campbell
This is disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Her contributions were so enormous and you are denigrating them because she was honest in her account of attitudes and stereotypes that were prevailing at the time.
lore
This seems poorly handled. Surely you could have found a way to stop awarding the LIW award and start awarding the CLL Award without dragging Wilder’s name through the mud, implying that she was a racist by applying current standards to the standards of the 1800s.
You knew darn well that Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books have been beloved for almost 100 years. Could you not imagine this exact backlash? You could have made this choice with respect for Wilder while announcing a new award with a new focus.
Your rush to condemn Wilder and gleefully announce a more politically correct prize just proves that your motivations are less about children’s literature and more about your own fragile egos.
Gary Hondel
Well said, Lore.
Gill
Gone with the Wind and Huck Finn should not be read to or with children as they’re rife with racist stereotypes. In fact ALL history such as early American, civil war, and WWII should be revised so we don’t upset Native, African American, Jewish, German, and Japanese children. In fact most literature is racist, homophobic, gender normative, and patriarchal and not inclusive and intersectional and should be stripped of all awards and come with a WARNING: YOU MAY NOT LIKE THE FACTS YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ. THIS HISTORY MAY OFFEND YOU. IT IS UGLY. IT HAPPENED. YOU CANNOT REWRITE IT. YOU CANNOT PROTEST IT. YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM IT.
Kelly
EXACTLY!
Lisa Ben-Reuven
Nina, changing the name of the award is a form of censorship. Political correctness is running amok in this country. I am a librarian and I think that removing Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from the award is also historical revisionism. Ms. Wilder’s books were written to show another era. It’s true that they have content that offend people, however that is what was believed in that time period. Changing the name of the award is the start of the slippery slope of censorship. Have you not read 1984? You are enabling the censors.
Kristin Pekoll
Can you please post a link to the Task Force report on ALA Connect?
Mary Voors Post author
You should be able to find the Task Force’s recommendations by going to ALA Connect and searching for “Wilder Award Task Force Recommendations.” (I believe you must login before you can access the information.)
Carla ONeill
Cannot find to access. Can you provide PDF? Would like to read the dovument
Heather
I am so proud of the ALSC Board for making this decision! What wonderful, hard work you are doing!
Wise Guy
Thank the ALSC for shielding us from past events. What we don’t know can’t hurt us.
Kay Weisman
I am another white person who enjoyed Wilder’s books as a child. However, as an adult I have come to realize that her words are hurtful to many—and every time the award is given in her name those hurt feelings re-emerge.
I commend ALSC for taking this important step forward. The important thing about the award is that it will continue to recognize excellence in writing for children, only now the award is one that everyone can wholeheartedly embrace.
Tony
You need to build a bridge and get over it, communist. You don’t get to censor people because your feelings are hurt.
Kim Stiens
LOL Tony, declining to name an award after someone is not censoring them.
Diana
Are you serious? This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. Shame on those who think this needed to be.
Kay Weisman
I am another white person who loved Wilder’s books as a child. However, as an adult I have come to realize that Wilder’s words are hurtful to many.
I commend the ALSC Board on this decision. The good news is that this award continues to recognize excellence in children’s literature, only now it lacks the sting that has long troubled so many.
Frank
I’m not a white person. My parents emigrated from Nicaragua in 1950-something… and I grew up just wanting to be an American. I loved the Ingalls-Wilder books, especially “Farmer Boy.” Especially gratifying was that I could identify with the grit and perseverance frontier families possessed because my parents displayed the same qualities, all the time. I never felt offended by any of her books, and truth is, I don’t remember fixating on those parts that have offended the ALSC board members. The Board’s action was ill-advised. Shame.
Ted
What a shame that the Board has decided to take revisionist steps! Although Laura Ingalls Wilder’s portrayals of minorities would hardly be accepted by any outside of the Alt-right or White House, the fact is that her characterizations reflect attitudes that were accurate to the era they portrayed. The reasons her name was put on the award are still legitimate, and the removal of her name reflects badly on the ALSC’s responsibilities to highlight good writing above political correctness.
Katherine M Anderson
Well said Ted. My thoughts exactly.
David M.
My thoughts as well. Various groups have gone after Mark Twain too. He did a excellent job at illustrating life of all people in the 19th century on they way they looked, acted, and how they spoke. His works are a historical record of that time whether you agree or not. As awards go, comedians today receive the Mark Twain Prize. Is that going to be renamed by some revisionist task force too?
Yvette
Ted, thank you for clearly explaining my thoughts as well. Shame on the ALSC for disrespecting Laura Ingalls Wilder and her legacy.
Pingback: Laura Ingalls Wilder's name pulled from library award over 'stereotypical attitudes' in her popular books | waynfo
Lisa K.
I think if you remove awards from her books, ALL awarded books that use similar language and concepts should be stripped. Do it right or don’t do it at all. Prove you’re actually trying to make change by acting widespread, not just cherry picking. I understand why you stripped her awards, BUT it’s only fair and reasonable if such actions are done to ALL books. Otherwise you’re just scapegoating and that helps no one.
Therese
No awards were removed from her books. All of her Newbery Honor medals endure. The ALSC Board followed an open process and I honor them as the professional people they are. My only complaint is the new name “sucks” and I would like to see ALSC come up with a better one than children’s literature legacy because it sounds like the award will now go to only dead people.
Anne Victory
Lisa, I don’t believe they stripped her rewards, just that they have renamed the award that was named for her. I’m still unsure how I feel about it, but I did want to clarify.
Karen Knox
This is wrong! So very wrong. I am afraid of where we are heading. A very slippery slope. This is all part of our collective history. Perhaps we should ban all books that dont fit into our current view of political correctness. Look at history, look to Nazi Germany, Communist Soviet Union. You should all be ashamed. If we bury things we no longer agree with or accept, we are destined to never learn.
Koleen Degreek
What an absolute disservice to the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder!! You should be very ashamed. This political correctness era has over stepped.
Koleen Degreek
What an absolute disservice to Laura Ingalls Wilder!! You should be ashamed!! This era of political correctness and trying to erase history is so very wrong!!
William Nelson
Wow, history is not to be questioned! Oh by the way you really hurt her feelings! Losers!
Dean
I think this is a real travesty ALSC you should be ashamed leave it up to the individual as to whether they want to read a book or not last time I checked we live in America not Russia or some other communist country here’s a really good idea if you don’t like what you’re reading put it back or stay home and live like a monk. It’s because of you we still after all these years have racism to begin with its a shame you all don’t have anything better to do with your time do us a real service and stay out of our lives.
Laura M. Jimenez, PhD
Thank you. I can’t ask that people who grew up reading and loving Wilder change their memories. But, I also read them as a child and knew racism when I saw it. And, I did not understand why we couldn’t spend time learning about the Trail of Tears, the land grab of the west, the borders that were redrawn that made my family minorities on the lands they had lived on for hundreds of years, or the California Mission system atrocities. Instead of viewing this as a lose of history, see it as an opportunity to begin learning a broader view of history.
Eric Hall
You’re response is so typical of the elitist attitude that has infested academia since the 70’s. Books are written from the author’s perspective. If you were triggered 100 years after it was written, too bad. Thicken your skin. The left’s quest for a utopian paradise, where no one’s feelings get hurt is sheer fantasy. It’s ruined two generations. We now have a whole generation of coddled children (and adults) who throw tantrums when their feelings are hurt. Great work…
Elizabeth
Coddled children with no critical thinking skills to manuveur our world. You got it. These misguided grownups think they are helping . And there are books and there is teaching about injustices that happened to Native American and Blacks.
Dee Martin
If you read them then you would know that she made it known that Native Americans were treated unfairly in some of the books. Her father said so, a few times, in Little House on the Prairie. Laura also mentions how helpful Native Americans were to the settlers in The Long Winter. While her mother was afraid of Native Americans, her father did not have the same view. In her fictionalized telling of her childhood should she have just left out Native Americans all together or changed the prevailing views and issues of her time to satisfy critics 100 years later? I never read her books for school and I live in the Midwest. We did read and discuss the Trail of Tears and the local mistreatment of Native Americans.
Mary
I learned about all of those topics and more in public education while growing up in the 80s and early 90s. In fact, they were covered more than “white history”. Please don’t project your early lack of education on everyone else. You were afforded all the educational opportunities of everyone else in this country. All this vote did was increase the divide in our country, mar the legacy of a great author, and shame an organization. It is truly appalling to see this country’s continual slippery slope of political correctness, censorship, sanitizing of our history, and pandering to a small minority of people continually hurt by history.
John Brock
Quite simply an incorrect conclusion.
Michael Dumas
Shame on the ALSC
Tony
Next you will be banning and burning books. If the words in the book hurt your delicate feelings then grow a set and get over it. In the time period these books were written and the perspective was from that of a child experiencing the western frontier there was nothing wrong with it. There still is nothing wrong with what Laura wrote.
You people need to get a life and quit trying to change things to match your sanitized PC views. Censorship is the first step in communism.
Ron Amerson
Sick Organization!!
Jennifer
This is one of the sickest and saddest moves you could do. Shame on you for doing this! This is wrong.
Laura M. Jimenez, PhD
Thank you ALSC and especially the awards board for taking up this important task and coming to this difficult decision. Seeing and recognizing our countries history – the whole of that history – is hard.
I also read Little House books as a kid in the 70s. But, instead of being swept away and seeing the boks as adventures of a strong girl, I saw racism and the history of American land grabs. And, I did not understand why we couldn’t spend time learning about the Trail of Tears, the borders that were redrawn to made my family a minority on the lands they had lived on for hundreds of years, or the California Mission system atrocities.
Perhaps fans of Little House can see this as a call to learn a broader view of history. One that includes the stories of non-Whites by non-Whites. Because we have been here all this time. It is time to learn our history because it is truly OUR history. If we are to be a nation, undivided, then it is time to read beyond the familiar narrative.
Jane
You are simply ridiculous. Write a book if you want to about “non whites”. Write whatever you want. Dont tell me what to read however. Are you so simple minded you cant read about what happened at that time in history ?
Mary Wysong
I have read the books many times, and Laura’s life and Libertarian politics were the basis for my MA thesis. I have to wonder did YOU read them?
What you consider “racist” is a tiny portion of the overall stories. If you read every book and only saw racism, perhaps the problem was your lack of context. You saw what you were looking to see.
Honi Gottlieb
by white washing history… is that what you are saying… Her books.. talked about a time in all of our collective history … and her wording was fitting and is fitting for that era…. It is not comfortable… and when I read those books it encouraged me to look at other books that were historically active.. to learn about the trail of tears… ( as an adult we have ridden via motorcycle this somber event with hundreds of other bikers Trail of Tears Annual Motorcycle Event) .. History is history and even if you do not mention it . it is still there… better to teach the truth.. than gloss over what is uncomfortable and learn all the stories from that time..
Wise Guy
Do you require a law to force others to learn about your American history also?
Cristina Rhodes
Excellent work on the name change!! I recognize people’s hurt over the change but I urge those whose reactions are to criticize and post upset comments to rethink for a moment. Walk for a bit in the shoes of a Native reader. A black reader. What do those children experience in a book many of us loved? The hurt they experience is undoubtedly far greater than the grown folx here expressing discontent. And as the grown folx it’s our job to ensure a new generation of readers doesn’t have to live through that pain. ALSC had done a commendable job of expanded Ingalls Wilder’s legacy to be more inclusive and open.
Al
You going to start burning books next?
Gabrielle Halko
We owe it to children to offer them mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors — and to acknowledge stereotypical or racist views in even the most beloved children’s books. I read Wilder’s books as a girl and they were a formative part of my childhood — but as an adult, I have learned to look at literature more critically. I would hope that this is a goal for all teachers, librarians, and everyone else involved in the creation, publication, and distribution of kids’ books.
It’s also worth noting that Wilder’s publisher, Random House, has never taken the step of releasing LHOP with annotations — something that some writers have offered as a possibility for acknowledging Wilder’s anti-Indian racism and signaling to readers that we *are,* in fact, living in a different time now. Some of the ire here at this choice to rename an award would be better directed at this publisher who could and should be an ally in this process.
Therese
Her books are p.ublished by Harper and the new biography of her that just won the national book award is a worthy read for adults who want to better understand the times in which she lived.
Kim Stiens
re: Gabrielle Halko: Yes! Context is everything. No one is saying that kids shouldn’t read Laura Ingalls Wilder, but not only is it terrible to imaging young people of color reading those attitudes without context, it’s terrible for white kids as well, as it helps ingrain in them the idea that those attitudes and stereotypes are OK. The whole thing about being a kid is that you don’t have as much context for anything, and kids internalize so many things they encounter.
Kristin McIlhagga
Brava, Bravo, Brava to ALSC for this visible ACTION to illustrate your commitment to equity in the world of Children’s Literature. I’m looking forward to rejoining the organization!
Laura
I commend the ALSC board on this decision.
The Children’s Literature Legacy Award is a much better name, providing a much better descriptive for what this award is honoring.
Dee Martin
Then just rename the award. It could have been done without disparaging Laura Ingalls Wilder’s work. Applying 2018 political correctness to a historical fiction that took place over 100 years ago is short-sighted, illogical, and worrisome.
Joanne Zayac
Are you kidding? Laura ingles Wilder? This was the verbage of the day. And you are questioning her now. I can’t believe it. This is our history in United States of America. So don’t tell me anything about the language used.
Edwin Austin
Well it seems in 2017 this group went “PC” big time. I noticed an avatar of their policy change on one of the links to the groups “core values” in 2017. You decide.
“Diversity and Inclusion” gets a whole big section of their sphere.
http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/aboutalsc/spheres%20of%20transformation.png
Leah Perlongo
As a woman of color who enjoyed these books as a child, I do not understand this move. The books are based on things that happened in her childhood. Actual events that show past social views that are no longer acceptable. Does the board also feel these books should be edited to remove things we find distasteful?
There are comments here talking about how her “words are hurtful to many”.
I seriously doubt that putting her childhood recollections into book form was meant to be hurtful to anyone, and I for one have never seen the books that way.
L. Michaels
Thank you, Leah, for being the voice of sanity in a world gone insane.
And to the ALSC, you desperately need to keep in mind the original text written by George Santayana; “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Keep taking steps to sanitize our literature and our children’s children will be no better off than the real life individuals that Laura Ingalls-Wilder wrote about.
Edward Finnesey
A very good well thought comment. Unfortunately, it will fall on deaf ears with the PC crowd. In the world of 201, to quote Orwell, you are a “unperson”. I wonder if there are any awards named for Mark Twain that will be changed because of Huckleberry Finn?
Mary
Well said and thank you.
PJ Bronson
Political correctness gone crazy!
Mary Jane Capps
So sad. The librarians have become the book burners of the 21st Century.
L.
Not all librarians, I happen to know several that think the ALSC have lost their mind.
L Boorse
You cannot change history or the evolutional process that brought us, as a people, to the point where we are today. All experiences make a civilization what it is today just as life experiences make you the person you are today. Some of those experieces are positve, some negative, All are pieces that contribute to the whole. Changing a name does not change the experience.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was a great role model and author. Her writings reflected the times she lived in. She would not be the same type of writer today just as you would not be the person you are today, had you lived 150 years ago. The past is past, Nothing is going to change it. Move forward and celebrate those who have blazed a trail through history so that you can now live as freely, justly and openly as you choose. SHAME ON YOU, ALSC.
Jeanie Ames
I concur!!
Renee Mongillo
Points well taken and I agree! How could this happen?
I will NEVER join ALSC and I will be VERY careful which books I buy with the new award name.
This is heresy to our basic rights!
Thank you for posting such an intelligent view point!
Kahdeidra
If “changing a name does not change the experience,” why is there an outrage over the name change? It would indeed change everyone’s experience and memories of the text, and this is where the resistance stems from. Change need not be self-deprecating or stagnating; it should be enlightening.
Melinda Fant
As a teacher who grew up loving these books, I do not understand nor do I agree with the position that the board has taken. While I am not a Native or African American, and therefore am not able to speak to how a historical perspective may make them feel, I am a teacher in an urban area and would not hesitate to read these stories to my students as an example of historical fiction. I would also use it as a teachable moment to show how we grow and evolve and as we get more information we can change how we think about people. I think you have done a huge disservice by renaming this award and would hope that in the near future reexamine your decision to see if this is truly what everyone felt was the right thing to do or was it an action to appease a smaller vocal group who applied modern concepts to a story that is set in a different point in history.
Jane
What an idiotic thing to do. She wrote about the 1800s for cryin out loud. Are you so afraid of seeing history than you must attempt to delete it? Dont you have better things to do with your lives?! I guess not. I feel a bit sorry for you.
Sandra Schauf
Since when are you the “Moral” people to take the Arbiter of thought???? You are wrong to do this. This is Communism at its best. I will never support you people in any way. You are showing your Communism by telling everyone what is good and what is wrong. Since when have you become a “god”??? Since when have you become the governors of thought. I love these books and I love the shows. All of you should be fired!!!
Lori Mann
Laura Ingalls Wilder was not racist, she loved telling the story of her family’s history and their trek across the prairies. This is not a racist author. She was a little girl! She just wanted generations to understand her family’s history. She wrote of the times she spent growing up. She wrote about a black Dr. coming to help her family when they were all very sick with fever. She wrote about the Native Americans and how fascinated she was with them and their beads she found and collected for a bracelet. Shame on your ALSC for trying to shame the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder!
Lee Plunkett
This action by ALSC underscores the fact that ALSC should not evaluating or rating books or writers period. The most ubsurb action I have ever seen!
michael wallace
ALSC Board….should be ashamed of yourselves. You can’t change history so let’s just pretend it didnt happen and erase it from view. That’s not really a good way to educate people. You are viewing history through a arrow minded and political agenda. Shame.
Lisa
Excellent. Regardless of how “representative” her writings were at the time and that they were her own recollections of the period, it doesn’t mean that everything is representative today or in the future in relation to the award. To maintain an award under her name for the type of writing she produced, by design, excludes people of color feeling the potential to fully embrace the award if they so were to be chosen. Regardless if you liked her writing, there is nothing wrong with changing the name. Clearly, her legacy to those of you who admire her work lives on. The new title allows for everyone to be embraced…a type of legacy that many still have yet to see and experience. Your comments show less admiration about her work and more hate, rejection, and intolerance to people who are different and think differently than you.
Mary Wysong
“Your comments show less admiration about her work and more hate, rejection, and intolerance to people who are different and think differently than you.”
You mean like the folks who wish to degrade Wilder because her 80+ year old books that recollect her childhood 150 years ago include viewpoints who “think differently than you?”
The comments are from people who are wise enough to know that it is important for us to know that life wasn’t always as it is now. That’s hardly “hate” and intolerance. Intolerance would be cutting off a beloved author.
Lisa
Folks do not wish to degrade Wilder because “her 80+ year old books that recollect her childhood 150 years ago include viewpoints who “think differently than you.”” Folks want to create more inclusive spaces for everyone in just ways that were not possible in Wilder’s works.
You are correct, it is “important for us to know life wasn’t always as it is now.” That does not mean we have to celebrate someone whose legacy is based on racist representations of how life used to be.
Kelly
Another person who has not read the books? Please (re)read the books and do not blindly accept others’ opinions.
BTW, you can create inclusive spaces without denigrating authors based upon a few out of “zillions” of lines in their books.
Rebecca
” That does not mean we have to celebrate someone whose legacy is based on racist representations of how life used to be.”
No, her legacy is not based on racist representations of how life used to be. It’s based on the contribution she made to literature. You can cherry pick her books to find those parts that offend you, but unless you’re incredibly easy to offend, that’s a tiny minority of her works. And those racists representations, as you call them, actually ARE how life used to be. Any honest historical fiction is going to reflect attitudes that we find problematic today.
By your criteria, there are very few authors published before the 21st century who could or should be celebrated. Harper Lee, Mark Twain have racist characters. Jane Austen and the Brontes perpetuates sexist gender roles. The list could go on and on.
Laura Ingalls Wilder made a significant positive contribution to children’s literature in this country. She inspired generations of readers and writers. Was she perfect? Obviously not, but part of being a mature individual is recognizing that all our idols have feet of clay – that doesn’t mean we have to cast them all down. As a librarian, I do not support this decision and am very saddened by the actions you’ve taken here.
Sharon Ridgeway
I was born in 1957, Laura Ingalls Wilder books inspired me. Don’t do this
Kathy Rice
I, too, was a young girl in the 70’s reading these great books. As I read them, my thoughts about any perceived racisms were that times sure have changed and thank goodness we don’t do/say that anymore. Why not look at these books as a measure of how far we’ve come? Can’t they be a teaching tool to kids for how things have changed? If anyone is that deeply upset by anything in it, they can put it down. But if you can’t look at it as how it used to be, maybe you need to try another author. There are so many books that speak to those times. Are we going to ban them all? I sure hope not. For if we do, we will never learn.
Pingback: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name pulled from library award over ‘stereotypical attitudes’ in her popular books – Indian States Men
Candy May Wa
I don’t understand the reasoning. No matter how you try to whitewash our past it can’t be erased. And, if we don’t allow our youth to learn about it and from it, we Are doomed to repeat it. What a legacy to leave. This deeply saddens me.
Gwen Athene Tarbox.
Wilders’ texts are historical fiction – even a cursory comparison of her biography and her books demonstrate that she was writing texts about how she wanted children to view a particular time and place. Her depiction of the Osage Indians was wildly inaccurate and racist. Her depiction of minstrelsy was offensive then and now. My mother was the original intended audience for these texts, and she was troubled then by these depictions. We should honor those authors who strive for accuracy and authenticity. Amazingly, not everyone writing in the middle of the twentieth century wrote racist material – but Wilder did, and we should not perpetuate her racist ideation into the 21st century. Anyone who is putting forward displeasure over this decision is saying that their nostalgic feelings about books that are clearly racist are more important than the reading experiences of today’s children. What we honor says a great deal about what we value. I honor authors such as Mildred Taylor, Sidney Taylor, Maurice Sendak, and other mid-century authors who could write about the world around them and the past without perpetuating racism and stereotypes.
Brigitte Fielder
Thank you for deciding, in the 21st century, to rename an award associated with an unfortunately racist series of children’s books. Many of those who are upset by this decision are making straw-man arguments. Nobody is burning these books. (I, in fact, still teach some of these in courses on race and gender in U.S. children’s literature.) And nobody is even arguing for their revision or removal from libraries. But some commenters here seem angry (or perhaps hurt or surprised) to learn (perhaps for the first time) that their beloved childhood classic actually does contain material that is undeniably racist. Perhaps they should re-read these books while trying to seriously consider the perspective of those people whose families were harmed by Indian removal, for example. Or alternately, when historically oppressed people tell you something is harming them, believe them. When an organization such as the ALSC takes into account the entirety of its membership and the entirety of the readership of children’s literature, it would be irresponsible to continue to name an award for an author known for overtly racist sentiments. This is not what some have dismissed as “political correctness,” but rather a simple refusal to cater only to racist perspectives going forward. Thank you for doing the right thing.
Candy
I am deeply saddened by this decision. What a horrible message. No matter how much you try to whitewash our past it is what it is. The more the past is hidden and buried and not learned of and from the greater the chance of repeating it. And, we are doing it to ourselves. Scary!
B Walker
Are you going to slash the Bible, too, where GOD calls unbelievers ‘heathens’, ‘reprobates’ and antichrists? satan is alive and well in the world of academia. Put your so called ‘prideful’ attitudes in your pockets. What will you cling to when you try to rewrite all of history? You will have NOTHING to reflect on……history is about life lessons and not repeating them. Here comes FAHRENHEIT 451!!!
Ann Smith
There is not a single person in this world who has not hurt someone’s feelings. (My feelings are hurt constantly and deeply by the attacks of the left on my traditional values.) Better to read the stories of how things were, and let each person compare all they have read, and decide which vision is truer and more noble, and more worthy of note.
When I think of the actual attitudes expressed in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and compare them with the attitudes shown by the actions of this board, it is evident to me who the real racists are.
Kate Roberts
Thank you!when we know better, we do better.
Stacey
This is ridiculous! You cannot erase history! There is nothing wrong with her books and her name should remain on the award.
KJ Fox
http://www.ala.org/alsc/aboutalsc/coms/pg5awards/als-awprvtf
richard thornton
“Hurtful” is your standard for deleting a work from history? This is exactly how book burning started, and will again, if you have your way. Beyond dispute, the writings of Jewish authors, as well as western classics and poetry were extremely hurtful to many, many people living in the Third Reich. Did their hurt feelings justify their actions? How are you any different? Where does it end, and who decides when enough is enough? You’re sowing the wind, and think there will be no consequences? Mark Twain surely must be outlawed — pretty saucy period references in there. Anything written by a “Founding Father” must be worthless, including the Declaration and Constitution. Abraham Lincoln penned a few hurtful words about African slaves — guess the “Address” must be erased from history. You are eagerly rushing towards the complete suppression of any thought, speech or opinion, different from your own, and you don’t understand this could be turned as a weapon against you, as well? Showing these works is banned, reading them will be next, punishing those who do, will follow. The similarities are striking and chilling. You are promising a kinder, gentler group of Brownshirts to protect us from “hurtful” words and people. No thanks.
Jeanie Ames
This is SO ridiculous, I find it pathetic.
Laura Ingall’s {Laura Ingalls Wilder} books were autobiographical.
Written impeccably for every child. Regardless of gender, race, creed, or culture. Not only was her older sister disabled, her entire life was a struggle. She faced all with emotional fortitude. Through which we could all empathize, learn, and grow. Her writing was honest and altruistic. No matter your heritage, background, or culture you were finding strength with Laura on the Prairie.
Those who choose to award political correctness over the genuine life lessons taught by this American treasure and literary pioneer, are laughable in their own right. In addition, they mock the very power and relevance of children’s literature past, present, and future.
Newberry Award, you’re now, best typist.
Sorry.
Pam Vinson
I am so sick and tired of this mess!!! Every thing you can imagine is hurting someone’s feelings! Get over it! Grow up! Quit giving in to every body that comes in with their panties in a wad over some misconstrued thing that has made them cry! We have raised and continue to raise a bunch of nitwits that will not have an independent thought of their own! They will grow up thinking that all they have to do is whine and they will get their way. I pity the world that we are leaving to our grandkids! Don’t pat yourselves on the back, you just gave in to a bunch of crybabies. If that makes you feel good then I pity you too!
Ian Haliczer
“Colored people don’t like ‘Little Black Sambo.’ Burn it. White people don’t feel good about ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ Burn it. Something’s written in a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book.” –Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451° (p. 59)
So sad to see the ALA devolve into the frail frightened sheep that Bradbury warned us about. That was the genius of his dystopia, it wasn’t an evil megalomaniac or an authoritarian regime that created Montag and the Firemen. It was an easily offended public so frightened of ever giving offense or being offended that they embraced censorship and oppression of any unapproved thought.
Mark my words, the ALA might be removing Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name from an award today, but you’ll be removing her from the shelves tomorrow, and tossing her onto the bonfires the day after that.
Elizabeth Bettini
Thank you for making this change!
Karl
And the erasure of history marches on. Future footnotes about LIW will just say “white racist”, as the leftists want it. They can’t rewrite history, or dmb it down for their base, if it still exists. That is what this is all about.
Sarah Davis Blodgett
I applaud this decision as one more step forward towards children’s literature that celebrates the beautiful diversity of people on this country. I enjoyed Wilder’s books as a kid, but was horrified by the stereotypical portrayal of Native people as an adult and began searching for books to read with my own children that didn’t perpetuate ways of thinking based on assumptions of white superiority. So much of Native history has been erased or ignored; this is one small step of atonement. Thank you ALSC!
Michelle Abate
I applaud the work being done at the ALSC by changing the name of this award. Thank you to the members of the Task Force for taking this important action for social justice!
Phil Nott
Shame on the ALSC/ALA. This is why, even though I am a librarian, I don’t attend ALA meetings.
Katy Zarnoch
This is ridiculous! Laura Ingalls Wilder is a legendary author. I’m appalled at this decision. Her books were the only reason I wanted to read as a young child, and why I enjoy history, which your decision seeks to erase. Horrible.
Tina Ladd
Very disappointing. I, too, read the books as a child and view them differently now because I recognize the stereotypical remarks and understand better what happened as far as pushing Native Americans off of their land, but what an honest story of how everything actually went down! There is history here, it happened. The series is a beloved series, it is an honest reflection of American history. The bottom line is, the story was a good one and I hate hearing that the award created in honor of Laura Ingalls Wilder is being renamed because she gave an honest reflection of life in the 1800’s. I agree with Lisa K. above who stated, ” I think if you remove awards from her books, ALL awarded books that use similar language and concepts should be stripped. Do it right or don’t do it at all. Prove you’re actually trying to make change by acting widespread, not just cherry picking. I understand why you stripped her awards, BUT it’s only fair and reasonable if such actions are done to ALL books. Otherwise you’re just scapegoating and that helps no one.” And it makes me wonder if the book banning is ready to begin when we’re supposedly living in such “free” and politically correct times.
Christina H. Moorehead
Every person who has ever lived on this planet has carried their own complex stories of triumph and pain, doing deeds of good as well as harm. I am no exception. All the people who are alive with me at this moment are no exception. Laura Ingalls Wilder was no exception. While history has filtered the complexity of her life through the rosy-lenses of the white people in power then and now, the truth remains. She and her family were complex and strong and flawed. Just like any of us. I grew up on these books as a child as well–read them until the pages fell out because yes, there was much to learn and admire about Laura Ingalls Wilder. But some of what I read confused me, for I knew my great-grandfather was Native American. I knew what tribe he was from. I had seen pictures of his face and saw that face echoed in the family around me . I heard the silences that were the only responses my grandmother would give to my questions about him…and about myself. So when I read Laura Ingalls Wilder describe her family’s interactions with Native Americans, I only became more confused. And THIS is also the legacy Wilder left behind and it is a legacy that clearly isn’t felt by everyone. But I feel it and I am not alone. Giving or removing an award will not change our ability to read Wilder’s work as a glimpse into a specific place and time in American History. We can still admire those parts of her that were admirable and still feel dismay at the parts that were heartbreaking and troubling. I applaud ALSC for understanding that an award is only as meaningful as it is true to that for which it stands.
Kathryn Kaul-Goodman
This is a very disappointing move to try to put a black and white present day standard on history and historical figures that existed in a very different context. Let’s just wait and see how well some of today’s attitudes are viewed 100+ years from now. By all means, we can discuss the attitudes of the time that are now understood to be problematic but reducing Wilder’s legacy to this misses the forest for the trees.
Katerina Swan
Next thing you know, someone will say is that Laura Ingles Wilder was a White Supremacist.
History is history, and no amount of gray washing, statue removal, and desecration of historical things will ever change it.
Evelyn Ford-Connors
I, too, avidly read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, and I appreciated the courage, resilience, and optimism that her books imparted to my younger self. Changing the name of this award doesn’t negate my experience of those books or diminish the quality of her writing. But we all know that language has power, and there is great power in the names we assign to cultural and social institutions and phenomena. Broadening the name of this award symbolically opens the door to a wider and more diverse range of perspectives and lived experiences. I welcome the name change.
Evelyn Ford-Connors
I, too, avidly read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, and I appreciated the courage, resilience, and optimism that her books imparted to my younger self. Changing the name of this award doesn’t negate my experience of those books or diminish the quality of her writing. But we all know that language has power, and there is great power in the names we assign to cultural and social institutions and phenomena. Broadening the name of this award symbolically opens the door to a wider and more diverse range of perspectives and lived experiences. I welcome the name change.
Eric Carter
Vicky Smith and Nina Lindsay, kudos to you and the other members of the board for taking this huge step to ensure that the awards program is fully representative of the ALSC’s core values, including inclusiveness. Thank you.
I am African-American and attended a racially integrated (majority-white) elementary school. I enjoyed listening to selections from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s works that were read to students in my second-grade class in the early 1970s. During the discussions accompanying the readings, one of my teachers, a white woman who would have been in her 60s then, would share with us stories her grandmother had told her of the fear she had experienced as a girl as their family had settled as homesteaders on the plains of the Midwest. My teacher’s grandmother recalled having been terrified of being kidnaped or “scalped” by Native Americans. Hearing those stories instilled in us kids a sense that Native people were dangerous savages who needed to be subdued in order for our modern America to be built.
I have no doubt that there are many Americans who still hold that view.
But as I grew a little older, I learned in other classes about some of the Native people’s societies, and I learned that much of the conflict between the white Americans and the Native Americans had been the direct result of the whites’ efforts to exclude the Natives from the latter’s ancestral lands. I also discovered, as I found out more about my family history, that some of my own ancestors had been Native people who had suffered as a consequence of those conflicts. All of this information provided me with a completely different perspective on Native Americans than I had gotten from hearing Wilder’s stories.
Historical fiction written for children can have a profoundly positive impact on how young people come to see the world and their place in it. Librarians should reserve their highest recognition for the writing that best serves that goal for *all* children. Your decision to change the name of the award is fully in keeping with that sentiment.
Anne Gibson
I am a liberal and I think this is outrageous. Wilder wrote about her time, and the way some people thought and acted then. Books are about seeing things from other people’s perspectives. Those perspectives aren’t necessarily “right.” Are the folks who decided to change the name of the award willing to give their property back to Native Americans? I doubt it. We in this country have got to get over expecting people to be perfect in every way before they can be lauded. If that’s the case, no one’s name will ever be on anything.
Dan Benedetti
It seems to me no one is burning any books, censuring anything, or changing history. ALSC is changing the name of the award. Change is a good thing, when we move forward in a positive direction. It’s time to read different stories and move forward in a way that is consistent with our values and inclusive for all children – let’s celebrate that! The Children’s Literature Legacy Award is a much better name.
Mary Wysong
Or continue to read the stories that are beloved for a reason so today’s kids can know how life was before iPhones.
Kathy Cowan
Laura Ingalls Wilder was from a different era. The way she wrote was historically accurate to the time period she lived. You can’t change history. People are way to over sensitive. Everything hurts their feelings anymore! I wonder if they have ever read one biography about her and did some research? They would come to know that Laura Ingalls Wilder was hard working, believed in freedom of rights and cared for people regardless of skin color.
Vivian
I agree with you 100%, Kathy.
Karl Halverson
This is interesting. My wife and I are Americans and are both descended from Native American Cherokees and Fox, Germans and the English. My Great, Great-Grandmother’s last name was “Whitekiller.” My mother and Grandfather are members of the Cherokee Nation. We have incorporated the LHOP books into the education of our four children. Yet, in all of that, haven’t felt sighted by what we read there or by the history of what one side of our family did to the other. Instead, we as a family have chosen to learn from the past and build into our lives, as best we can, the truth that we are all created equal and to include in our lives the lives of those who are different from us. Inclusion of the other, not exclusion of the “wrong,” is a large part of the answer to the problem of our perpetually broken world.
Becky
This seems like a smear of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name to me. The demonizing of a woman long dead because her books reflected the time in which they were written and showed the things she observed and experienced in her childhood. Doesn’t the removal of her name from this award send the message that she herself was racist and therefore unworthy?
There is a tendency for people to look at the past with the lens of the present, and that is a mistake. If we applied this logic to every piece of history, there wouldn’t be many people left to celebrate, would there? History, and the people who made (and continue to make) it, are complicated, and we should be able to learn from their legacies without judging them so severely.
Chris Leider
Fantastic work!
Diane
Utter nonsense!!!! Of course you don’t care about the multitudes YOU offend! No one can erase our history, or change it. It is done, it was what it was and we need to remember it. The history of our country and those who made an impact, including Laura Ingalls Wilder, will remain in our hearts forever. Who are YOU to make these decisions? If you forget history it is bound to repeat itself, and it looks like even if we do remember it, it will. Wake up!!!
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Don Reynolds
As a 45+ years member of ALSC, I am appalled at the mean-spirited vituperativeness of mostly anonymous posters – we all can certainly disagree about decisions, but some of these postings are totally inappropriate for a public professional blog. Dear Friends, let us please be civil with one another – there is no reason to be hurtful or shaming to each other in the present tense or in writings from the past.
Personally, I was quite proud to be an ALSC member while reading the ALSC Awards Review Task Force Recommendation (then with ALSC Board approval) – it was a thoughtfully measured and balanced solution to a thorny, emotionally disruptive issue —> the result respecting the past, not rewriting, denying or censoring it, while constructing a positive future – all done without discarding the principles of ALSC’s Core Values, the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read, or the ALA Code of Ethics statements.
The physician’s guiding maxim of “First, do no harm” is an admonition we should adopt in our relations with each other.
And the second is like unto it, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This Golden Rule implies the basic assumption that other people would like to be treated the way that you would like to be treated.
The next step, as businesses are discovering, is the Platinum Rule: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.” The Platinum Rule accommodates the feelings of others. The focus of relationships shifts from “this is what I want, so I’ll give everyone the same thing” to “let me first understand what they want and then I’ll give it to them.” A fine library customer service guideline.
How good, sensitive, caring, and kind that the Task Force and ALSC Board are moving to Platinum behavior.
When I was young, I admired clever people.
Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
~ Abraham Joshua Heschel
Amanda Veltrop
This is so very sad. I love her books and always will. I will also encourage my young daughter to read the books. Laura Ingalls Wilder should be celebrated as a great Amerucan FEMALE writer. Her literary accomplishments aside, she has touched the hearts and imaginations of countless children. Removing Laura Ingalls Winter’s name is shameful.
Renee Mongillo
I am appalled at your decision ALSC!!! A “standing ovation”? You write that you are “proud to be a member of ALSC”? You have your rights AND so do I!
You are punishing what was history! You are changing what was and deleting a great American author’s right to have had the chance to express herself, as you rename the Laura Ingalls Wilder award! I echo others who will not stand for this and I WILL stand for the freedoms for authors to write history EXACTLY as it happened. I grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s wonderful children’s series (and still read them now and share them with my grandchildren) in which she leaves a rich and beautiful legacy of the importance of hard work, family, and the indomitable Pioneer Spirit of America AND how we need each other! We need Laura Ingalls Wilder and authors like her to tell the truth yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The only thanks I give you is that of giving me the chance to give my opinion. That is the American way and right and that is what Laura did. She told the truth as she knew it. What kind of history would YOU paint of our lives today? Would you erase and punish those who tell the truth? We need more Laura’s today!
Juno
Thank you, ALA, for renaming this award. I grew up in Southern California and tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder were ubiquitous. I remember my own ambivalence and shame when reading her work, since it was clear I was meant to identify with her, even though her memoirs were quite racist in its romantic picture of settler colonialism. There are so many more figures to celebrate. This award should be for future readers and the future we want, not for backwards nostalgia that implicitly celebrates violence and genocide.
Cathy Clarke
I am disappointed in your decision to change the name of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. Her writings reflect that time period. You can not erase history just because you don’t like or agree with it or find it distasteful. Children need to learn about our history so that it doesn’t get repeated. You can not learn from something if you can not read about it.
This is wrong and I would like to request that you reconsider your decision.
Kahdeidra Martin
I commend the ALSC board on this decision. Changing a named award to more accurately reflect the political and social consciousness ot our times is in no way censorship. No one is calling for the banning of books. Let’s just settle down here and remove the pathos from these arguments.
Ingalls Wilder enjoyed a remarkable career, prestige, and fame that her family is still profiting from, regardless of a name change. Young readers who enjoyed her books and the miniseries, and I am included, can still enjoy our memories and whatever positive life lessons that we gleaned from them.
Just calm down. You’ll be fine.
Joanna Moore
You obviously are not familiar with Wilder’s books or biography. She has no living descendants, so no, her “family” is not profiting from her works. Her only surviving child–Rose Wilder Lane–had no surviving children.
J F Clift
As a liberal, I too find this appalling, so would y’all please stop lumping everything under the umbrella of “liberal/leftist political correctness?” The books were written in a different era, reflecting the thinking, experiences, and mores of that era, and so context is an absolutely necessary inclusion. Does the fact that the books are “based” on her experiences, so not being entirely historically accurate, make them any less valid, entertaining, or educational? The further we continue on this kind of path, watering down everything so as to offend no one, the less value is attached to the achievement.
Mary Wysong
I think it is safe to say that the board and membership of ALSC is nearly all liberal, and these are definitely liberal talking points. Unfortunately, that is common in certain branches of education because it is self-perpetuating. Impressionable young kids go to college, and they adopt their professor’s viewpoints. (Sometimes they have to to achieve good grades. ) I am a strong conservative and I finished two graduate programs in three years, but I knew I had to shut up and stick to the superficial in class discussions because, like Wilder’s 150 year old experiences, my own political viewpoints would be shunned in a university setting. How dare I be so evil as to think that private charity is more functional and effective than government assistance!
That said, I have found that disdain for the ALSC’s ignorant decision is highly bipartisan. Surely there are far more liberals who support than there are conservatives; however, even the majority of liberals see how ridiculous this is. I shared a link in a Mensa group, and even our most leftist of leftists did not support the decision. Finally, something we could all agree on!
It’s not just about erasing history. It’s about choosing whose viewpoints and narratives matter. The ALSC is in the questionable position of being able to shape children’s minds through their recommendations and their blackballing. While claiming to be inclusive and supportive of ALL views, they have decided that Wilder’s view is inappropriate and must be degraded. They can continue to promote only their approved viewpoints and make it less likely that children will access those books that are deemed “racist” and unworthy. That’s the biggest problem with this decision: it works towards eliminating critical thinking. Fortunately, most of us can see it.
Gary Hondel
Why not just call it “The Orwellian Awards?”
REGINA GREGORY
HOW DARE YOU REMOVE SUCH AN ICONIC WOMAN. SHE AND HER FAMILY FOUGHT FOR EQUALITY AMING FRIENDS OF ALL RACES BEFORE THAT WAS A MOVEMENT. HER STRUGGLES WERE INSPIRING! AND YOU DARE REMOVE THE NAME OF LAURA WILDER?! IT WASNT SHE THAT WAS STEREOTYPICALLY NEGATIVE RATHER YOU PEOPLE WHO SEE HER THIS WAY! NARROW MINDED CLOSET RACISTS AND ANTI FEMINIST! SHAME ON YOU ALL!
WL Emery
Well said.
Kelly
Awesome!
Michael
I agree with you!
Bearach Crawford
Laura Ingalls Wilder did not write her books last year. You have to consider how society was when she did write them. We are so busy being politically correct that we are losing our heritage in case we offend someone. Why don’t we get rid of history books, they talk about slavery and racism as does our bibles. Moses and his people were slaves. We have come a long way and will continue to do so unless we listen to people that seem bent on driving a wedge between people of different cultures, races and religions.
Louis
Congratulations on your brilliant vote for censorship. It is a great day in America when we can just wave our hand and make both history and the 1st Amendment disappear because someone’s feelings might be hurt. How freeing it is that we can now safely brush aside every historical figure or writing that doesn’t meet the purity of today’s progressive goals. I for one look forward to calls from the ALSC to not only remove Wilder’s books, but to burn them as well. We cannot allow even the slightest chance that they fall into the hands of some child! How disastrous it would be to have to explain that people held different views once upon a time!
Brad
I applaud the new censors for erasing another woman from our literary heritage!
Mike Jung
I’m grateful to the ALSC for making this change. I agree that it’s essential to stop erasing negative aspects of our history, avoid sanitization of our literary canon, and actively oppose the desire to forget what it meant for a writer to be a person of their time. The newly renamed Children’s Literature Legacy Award does those things. ALSC has chosen to publicly confront the racist aspects of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s work instead of erasing them. ALSC has dismantled one of the mechanisms for sanitizing the racism in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. ALSC has chosen to stop tacitly suggesting it’s acceptable to not think about the racist aspects of the Little House books. This is an important step in understanding the full, complex, historical reality of Laura Ingalls Wilder, her work, and the time in which she lived. It’s an equally important step in understanding the reality that the Children’s Literature Legacy Award isn’t something immovably frozen in 1954, but is an award that is given to authors who are doing their work right here and now in the present day. The ALSC leadership has my appreciation for their work.
John V. Kevany
Imagine, censoring a book (yes by pulling that award that is what you are doing) a series of books written over a hundred years ago because of stereotyping. ONLY THEN IT WASN”T! Are you next advising the censoring of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Huck Finn, or maybe ROOTS? These books all had stereotypes in them.
Liberalism, has just gone over the top.
Brenda Cantrell
They are bucking to the whiners who get offended by everything nowadays.
Quit trying to change History!
Shameful!
Hillary
I am beyond disgusted!! It is pure ignorance to rename this! It does not change the past!! Laura in no way wrote racist literature, she simply wrote about the time period she grew up in and never at any time reading the books did I feel what she wrote was in any way degrading towards Native Americans or African Americans, she wrote from the perspective of American Pioneers! I was raised to study history, understand it and learn from mistakes of those who came before us to make the world a better place! Trying to censor history is dangerous, it will only create ignorance and that will in turn result in history repeating itself!
Mike Jung
I agree that we have to stop erasing negative aspects of history, sanitizing our literary canon, and enabling those who want to forget the reality of our most revered authors, which is why the new Children’s Literature Legacy award matters. The new name does its part to stop the erasure of racism in the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Keeping Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name on the award was a way of sanitizing the racism in her books; by changing the name, ALSC has openly and officially stated its unwillingness to enable those who wish to forget the racism that exists in the Little House books. My thanks to all at ALSC for this very complex and difficult decision.
Chris Ferris
This is another outrageous act by uninformed people trying to erase history instead of learning from it. A disgrace! Remember free speech and that her books were written at a certain time and place in our history. This will do nothing to help the cause of what is starting to be censorship – in of all places -the LIBRARY!!!!!!
Kathy Craig
This decision is a disgrace at best. Are you also censoring all authors who are not white? Shame on you all!
Krystal
Mrs. Wilder is going through and injustice, where are her rights?
Cynthia Turcotte
Well, this is just ridiculous. First, if we look at just about every piece of literature written more than 30 years ago through the lens of today, the “moral” outrage would be deafening and there would be far fewer books in our libraries.
Don’t like the way Native Americans are depicted in the books? Use it as a teaching moment. “This is how people used to think in the past. Why is it wrong?”
Just because you don’t like a word, a phrase, a passage, etc… in a work doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still have value.
Second, the publisher amended the work back in the 1950’s to address the issue.
I devoured those books as a child and guess what? I didn’t grow up racist or culturalist or whatever -ist you want to toss out there.
Jiminy Christmas, people. Instead of turning art and literature into a bland, homogenized porridge out of the fear that someone, somewhere might possibly take offense, we need to grow thicker skins and teach our children how to think critically and for themselves.
Remember the book burnings we so proudly think that we’ve grown beyond? We’re not too far off from that censorious place once again.
It wasn’t a total loss, I guess. At least you got to pat yourselves on the back.
Bob
So much for critical thinking. Any teacher knows, when we encounter books from another era, that you guide students through the book because you know what to look for – it’s not for any organization to determine. (Often times, you’d find the authors were much more literate than today, as well.)
Are the old Dick and Jane books objectionable, too? Make sure that books like: Brave New World; 1984; and Logan’s Run are pulled from the shelves (or locked out of library computers) before any students find any similarities to today.
Disquieted
There is a vital difference between description and prescription. “The Little House on the Prairie” has descriptive attitudes of various people towards others; these views are historical and reflect attitudes held during the 19th century, but that should not be taken as prescriptive. To view Laura Wilder as prescribing racist attitudes is ignorant quite frankly. A person who writes a book set in the 19th century should not be castigated for reflecting the reality of commonly held beliefs of that time period. I am deeply saddened by this, but not shocked.
John Matthew
What a poor example of executive leadership. This is a marketing decision with zero basis in learning science. It is based on sweeping the past under the rug in order to please a few. That is not what libraries and literature are for. They are about having the opportunity to be introduced to a wealth of diverse material, the learning and understanding of that material in the context of its time and taking from it the whole experience while applying it to current conditions.
America has a past. In that past are characteristics of a young nation’s struggle with self of which we are still working out today. We are still a very, very young nation. The past should never be hidden or chastised. This action helps no one. All it does is satisfy the vindictiveness of a few. Typical political correctness at the expense of truth.
Joe Shaughnessy
I await the renaming of the Geisel award due to the racist advertising and war propaganda he created in his time.
This is just sad.
Karen Forehand
Start gearing up for your next action, trash Mark Twain….. censor everything the minority wants. We are a republic not a democracy, no one knows this because words are changed…. tired of this!
Okay words hurt,, but it’s better to read a realistic story and empathic and learn from that than to forget it in the future….what’s next burn her books….
Debbie
As a recently retired school librarian I am APPALLED at your recent censorship action toward Laura Ingalls Wilder and classic literature. My last hope for our country WAS the ALA and now I see your organization has agreed to “fold” and join the “masses” regardless of conscience. I guess your next move will be to glue clothing to all the Michaelangelo art photos in books, because “someone” doesn’t like classic artwork of nudes from that era! Shame on you…
Hugh
Hi there, just writing over from Ireland – you may have heard of a minor event over here, it was called World War 2 – since then France, Poland and even Germany itself have kept memorials of Nazi occupation ranging from Nazi coastal forts in France to the terrors of Auschwitz in Poland. We keep these periods of history alive to remind us of the problems that can befall society if we ever forget what one person can do to another. We should not be erasing our collective past just because the past is uncomfortable. Cecil Rhodes was a brutal coloniser in what is now Zimbabwe, or Nathan Forest for his massacre of African american slaves at the battle of Fort Pillow in 1864. We still remember these ruthless people (at least over here) not because we think they represent good moral values, but to allow us to reflect on society and how to improve it. I feel you may have made a grave error of judgement in renaming the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award as she would have lived in a different time period when views were very different. We understand today that her descriptions of ethnic minorities do not reflect modern morality because her views did not come from the modern era. She should still be remembered for what she contributed so that American literature can reflect upon its past warts and all, other countries can do it, so can you.
Glynis
My ethnic background includes Native American, African American, and caucasian. I’m ashamed that your board would unanimously vote to have Laura Ingalls Wilder removed. This censorship is unAmerican. Your board should collectively resign and let people with intelligence and backbone fill their places.
Rick
This is a sad day in the history of a group that portends to be about American Literature. Wilder, and many others are worthy teachers of life in the growth of America. That you would find your way out of such things is anathema.
Nina Lindsay
A news release titled “ALA, ALSC respond to Wilder Medal name change” is available at http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2018/06/ala-alsc-respond-wilder-medal-name-change.
Fay Gonzales
This is crap!!! Why are you taking away the award!!! Why not just ban ALL books and burn the Bible while you’re at it!!! Her books are why millions of children even pick up a book. I Loved her books growing up! They were something that I enjoyed reading even when I struggled to read. She deserves the award that you stripped from her!!
Meera Rajan
As a second generation South Asian-American child I remember being offended by representations of Indians in Wilder’s books. I also loved them and read them repeatedly. My daughter now reads and loves these books, and I am more than happy to discuss their problematic representation of other peoples and cultures. I do the same with C.S. Lewis, Kipling, and a number of other authors whose work I love and also disagree with. This is the nature of history and of literature. I totally disagree with the ALSC’s position. Let’s continue to celebrate and critique Wilder (and others) and understand their work in context.
Teresa
An important change. I thank the Task Force and the ALSC board for all their work and thought. The new name is more descriptive too.
KJ Fox
I’m sure most folks know already Nina. Does the ALSC expect this to change minds for what many people, librarians to patrons, feel? The ALSC wording for what was expected going into the vote did include changing the name of the award, yet I find the “option” for past winners to have their books fall under the new award title vs. the LIW title a shaming tactic. If they do not choose to conform to the new title do you not foresee the backlash some of these authors may face the same as some of those who do? This was not part of the package going into New Orleans from what I read.
Nina Lindsay
A news release titled “ALA, ALSC respond to Wilder Medal name change” is available at http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2018/06/ala-alsc-respond-wilder-medal-name-change
Allie Jane Bruce
I am so proud, today, to be an ALSC member. To draw from Martin Luther King Jr.—the arc of the moral universe is long, but this weekend it has bent towards justice. Cheers and thank you to everyone who worked to make this change.
This is a good time and space also to recommend the BIRCHBARK HOUSE series by Louise Erdrich. Do read it this summer if you never have; it’s soooooo good. A great one to read with 3rd grade and up, too!
Kelly
It is always awesome to re-write history and to keep facts away from folks
Peter Cress
I suppose you have already excluded George Santayana from your collections, but in good libraries he is remembered to have said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As the caretakers of America’s libraries, you hold the responsibility of curating our history, not hiding it from children. The truth is that America in the late nineteenth century was overwhelmingly racist. If we forget why we turned from that path, we are condemned to go back to it. Congratulations, you’re making America’s future bigots.
Brady
Just look at the folks on the task force. I’ve lost total respect for those on the task force and Board. They haven’revealed the real survey data, which makes me think the survey was skewed. Something sneaky about their work. They should at least be more transparent. More thought should have gone into this — especially the new name. I would expect some writers will no longer appreciate this award that until now had great significance. I would have supported totally sunsetting the award to this lame new title.
Jeff Irish
Seriously… you got a standing ovation for removing Laura from the name of the award… because of a narration of a book written how long ago? OK, wrong or right, what she wrote is representative of the time of the story!! What the heck is wrong with you people? I am quite surprised you didn’t just recommend the book be burnt! This is beyond ridiculous. Shame on you!!!
Deborah Walker
Pathetic decision. News flash – whitewashing history = censorship. Wilder was a product of the realities of the times she lived in. Erasing historic truths means we learn nothing from the past.
Gary Hondel
EXACTLY! Well said.
Colleen Patricia
I doubt this board took time to actually study Laura’s series, IN ITS ENTIRETY, much less read it.
For nine successive years, as a child growing up during the 1970s, I began my summer reading by reading the entire series.
I watched the pilot made-for-TV movie starring Michael Landon and thought it was well done, but after watching the first episode of the TV series, I refused to watch again because of all the artistic license that warped the world Laura had created in my imagination.
Later in life, I read biographies of Laura Ingalls Wilder and many of her additional writings.
Yes, Laura offered descriptions that are stereotypical and were widely accepted during her time.
Yet, I as I read her works and put them in chronological perspective, I see her always thinking, caring, growing.
In her famous children’s book series, she showed that her parents held different views and reacted differently to people of different ethnic/cultural groups. She showed that as a child, she weighed their differing opinions and formed her own!
Is that not exactly what every child must do?
We cannot know how she would have felt or responded to the “civil rights movement” because she died in 1957.
No, I suspect this action was “met with applause” by a like-minded audience, and I question how many actually read her children’s books and of those, how many could read them objectively, without their own biases.
She was the first author to receive this award named for her in 1954.
AGAIN, I believe the ALA would have been wiser to RETIRE THE AWARD and CREATE A DIFFERENT one since it appears Laura definitely met the requirements of the award as it was originally created and this current group has decided to change the criteria for the recipients of the award.
I definitely question the integrity of this board.
This action smacks of a small group of powerful people trying to DIRECT instead of REFLECT society with recommendations of “appropriate” literature for children!
I suggest that the people who were so concerned about renaming this award would have provided a greater service by creating a study guide for book discussions, rather than dishonoring a woman who has greatly inspired many generations with her PERSONAL depiction of how she experienced HER LIFE during a specific period of American History.
Taylor
It seems like many people are confused. Changing the name of an award is not the same as erasing Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books for all eternity. Many of these comments strike me as the perfect example of equality feeling like oppression when you’re accustomed to privilege. I think Board Member, Vicky Smith, put it very plainly in her comment: “As a White person who grew up reading and loving the Little House books, I did not see what so many of readers of color and Indigenous readers saw—until it was pointed out to me. Then I imagined being a Native child reading how Laura and her family perceived my people or a Black child reading about Pa dressing up in blackface.
This award is for a significant and lasting contribution to American literature for children. As a board member who considered and then voted on this motion, I could not support the retention of a name that I don’t believe is inclusive of all the many children in all our communities.” I suggest many of the commenters here take a breath, release their grip on their pearls, and try to access some empathy inside themselves for children who may feel excluded and belittled by this series.
John
Nobody is confused. Please don’t insinuate such. Their (ALSC) motives are clear. Their reasoning is flawed and political. It’s not rocket science, just bad science.
Elizabeth
Adults are there to teach children about life and life is not always easy or fair. Instead of encouraging children to be strong and resilient you are encouraging children to not find ways to deal with life. These books are teachable moments. Have respect for children and their ability to understand things and accept them and grow if adults talk to them about their feelings
Gary Hondel
The proponents of things like this always default to the cliche’ responses, like, “white privilege.” That has nothing to do with any of this. The problem is trying to change something in an attempt to appease those from the past who suffered injustices thinking it will matter or make a difference. It doesn’t. It’s just sentimental fluff. Quit trying to change everything that was or isn’t “perfect.” Create new things that promote the values your talking about and quit hijacking what’s already been established. Which, by the way, has done no harm to anyone. The problem with society is not awards named after Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Richard Whittington
Laure Wilder wrote of things as they were. It IS the truth of that time. Changing the name because of the things she wrote is to dishonor her honesty. Communist Russia has tried to cover up the truth with their own concocted version of history. Seems you fools are trying to do the same. You have improved NOTHING of value. You have only raised your own opinion of yourselves. applaud yourselves and pat each other on the back, we’ll wait. There are words that describe people and groups such as yours: pompous, self centered, morally blind, self righteous, to mention a few.
Here’s a quote for you:
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
Peter Drucker
(an amazing man, look him up, you might learn something)
Er O
This is ridiculous!! I’m so tired of people trying to erase every aspect of white history they don’t like because it reflects what was going on back then, not now. Destroy Confederate soldier statues because of so called slavery hurt feelings, but praise slave statues at a black history museum. That makes sense….
Andrea
As an elementary teacher educator , I commend the board for critically examining the purpose and naming of the award. One of the most important and enduring skills I strive to instill in my students is the critical consumption of texts. Who is represented? Who is not represented? Whose voice is heard? Whose voice is silent? Are the representations of people and groups authentic? Inevitably our answers to these questions change as we learn and grow. If my students learn to do this, they are able to continue to do this long after I am their teacher. Maya Angelou’s famous quote—”Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”—is appropriate for this process of continual reflection and analysis.
The change that follows reflections & analysis is not necessarily an erasure. It is often the opposite—a means of illuminating a history that was erased. It is a recognition that the voices of people or groups without power were, we can now see, missing. They had been erased. And now that we see this, we want to make changes to do better.
This award is for a significant and lasting contribution to American literature for children. The name, Children’s Literature Legacy Award, captures the central commitments of ALSC and that award. The history of the name and the story of the name change also represents the power of stories to work in the service of justice. Thank you for this.
P. Gallagher
Why stop here…why not strip all negative references from all of human history???
This is idiotic! Imagine if we had no point of reference to understand our cultural evolution…..
This is exactly what you sad sacks are doing…. We need to see where we were and where we are going if we are ever to keep evolving……Laura Ingalls Wilder was simply writing about the life as it was in her world…..Her reality is not ours, so why would you extract the facts from her stories…We are as humans, responsible for beauty and ugliness based on the framework of life at the time….
To sanitize it or vilify someone writing about life as it was it just plain stupid!!!
Unbelievable!!!!
Elizabeth
Destroying teachable moments to children, destroying the purpose of literature to bring all experiences and viewpoints of life to readers is nothing to be proud of .IMO it is against the whole purpose of literature.
J P
This was a horrible decision. It makes me sick that every one applauded it like you did something so great. You people are sick.
James Allen
It’s so unfortunate that some of the comments I’m hearing are stemming from a place of ignorance. The comments about children being able to differentiate between implicit bias and overt racism is totally ridiculous, to deny the power of images and how people are portrayed in the media on the public is short sighted, even the media understands this how else are they able to manipulate public opinion. I’m not going to ask any of you to practice empathy because that’s the first to be rationalized away when white sensibilities our triggered. Although I don’t agree with changing the name of the award, I do however think that they should have retired it, (which would have in some way maintained the awards previous achievements) As the ALSC has laid out its core values a new award which upholds those criteria is understandable. However to those of you who proclaim that the portrayal of the Native American as a savage and the African American as docile and ignorant as historically accurate only further proves your belief in white supremacy and privilege.
https://youtu.be/hq39ZAz-7yo
Maybe you should view the link
Kelly
Which book should we burn first?
If what you have posted is accurate, that is what you should be advocating.
Changing the name or retiring the award has nearly the same affect, it brands the books and, to some extent, the author as a “racist.”
I have read the books many times growing up and I NEVER thought of my neighbors as anyone or any thing less than I or any other human.
Makes me think you have never read the books and believe you have succumbed to the power of images and how others have portrayed the books.
Sit down and read the books with an open mind and then make your own decision.
Your link is the tv show and not the books. Ignorant example
Jaymes
So you are denying that her book portrays Native Americans as savage? None of the books you read demonstrated Native Americans were intruding on “their land” demanding food and other items? If you read her books then you would agree the television portrayal was pretty accurate to her discription of life on the frontier. This is what I mean by white sensibilities are triggered, you all have played into this narrative of a name change being an outright attack against the author and her work, when no one discredited her work or called her a racist.
If you really feel that passionate about why don’t one of you take up the mantle and continue the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award ?
Kelly
Which book should we burn first?
You have not read her books?
” If you read her books then you would agree the television portrayal was pretty accurate to her discription of life on the frontier. ” – some parts but mostly the TV show was embellished.
“… white sensibilities…” – what are you referring to? I said nothing about any made-up/feel-good phrase you choose to use.
nope, she did not portray all Native Americans as save. Yes, there were quite a few who enslaved/murdered/raped others and so I guess those could be thought of as “savages”.
Jen
James – do you mean the ignorance that allows you to use the phrase “white sensibilities our (sic) triggered” when I would be crucified for saying “black sensibilities are triggered” in a post?
Eliza
The writer may have a projection problem in terms of his mind. He is attributing his feeling of hate or lack of empathy to people outside him. It is a common way for people who can’t deal with their own negative emotions, grief, pain, sadness, anger to handle them instead of going within and working on themselves they say other people are responsible for their reactions and people must change when in part it is the person who must resolve his own feelings. It is a very disempowering emotional state.
James
“Do you mean the ignorance that allows you to use the phrase “white sensibilities our (sic) triggered”
Thank correcting me, but it’s not ignorance, you proved my point. You may use “black sensibilities “ or any other so-called “minority group sensibilities “ you want because that is exactly what most of the comments are implying. Is it fragility on my part or is it fragility on yours. I can admit there are negative portrayals in her work, I also understand the historical context in which it was written. I have not advocated changing the name, however, I believe if the ALSC is going in another direction and has outlined their core values and they stated (quite clearly) the need for a name that is more inclusive. It’s a sign of ignorance to turn this into an “an us against them” narrative.
I have no qualms against the author and I absolutely enjoyed Little House on the Prairie, but I’m not gonna deny certain ways groups were portrayed. The term “white washing “ history is pretty subjective. I will read more of her writings but maybe you should read a People’s History by Howard Zinn.
Bill Coleman
Does any mechanism exist for overturning this decision?
Kate
As a teacher and teacher educator, I want to thank the ALSC Board for their decision to change the name of this award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. I appreciate the care that went into this decision, and I look forward to learning of new award recipients for many years to come.
Jessie R. Smith Jr.
Too bad that the ALA did not consult the membership over this, no emails, no messages. What a pack of hypocrites. No Censorship over Huck Finn and the “N” word years ago because that’s the way people talked, but because Mrs. Wilder told how people talked and acted she gets stripped off the award.
JR
You people are seriously ignorant! Worst decision ever.
Jen
Laura’s books are filled with history, family values, love of learning, love for each other, love of country, hard work, kindness to others, and dealing with adversity. Apparently values that the ALSC/ALA find less admirable than “diversity and inclusion.” The Little House books started me on a life-long love of reading and history. I stll have that but what I also have is a rapidly declining opinion about librarians. They may not be burning Laura’s books or telling us not to read them but they are putting a taint on them. Maybe they have a big rubber stamp saying “read at your own risk; you may be offended by these books” to put on the front covers. My local supervising librarian has been in NOLA at the conference; I’ll be sure to give her my thoughts about the award change when she returns.
Some of the comments here praising the name change I believe were made by people who had never even read the books and just took the ALSC/ALA’s word that they are “racist!” Perhaps they should have read Little House on the Prarie about Dr. Tann (that was his real name it wasn’t a moniker that Laura gave him due to his dark skin) and decided if Laura’s story about her entire famly being saved by this man was “racist.” Yes, they were frightened by the native americans in this book; guess what folks, native americans, like the white settlers, sometimes did terrible things! However, Laura gave credit in her story to one chief who talked the other Indians into not attacking the settlers. So Ma Ingalls said something unfavorable about native americans? I’m pretty certain my Norwegian great great grandmother (living very close to Laura’s Wisconsin birthplace at about the same time), who experienced the terror of Indians walking uninvited into her cabin, siting down, and demanding she feed them, would have unfavorable things to say also as she feared for her life and those of her children.
To the blog censor – I saved my post from yesterday that you decided not to publish. I reworded here so you won’t be offended again. Of course this post may not show up either…..
Donation to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society has been sent. I hope others to the same.
Colleen Patricia
Excellent idea to donate to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society! I most definitely am on that. Of course, I have been contributing irregularly, but this time, I have a much stronger sense of need to support her legacy for future generations!
Kelly
Well Said
Pingback: Laura Ingalls Wilder Is No Longer Acceptable Because Identity Politics And Racism! [VIDEO] - Victory Girls Blog
Christopher Brown
I have never been prouder to be a member of ALSC.
While we may enjoy aspects of Wilder’s work, revisiting the book series repeatedly highlights the racism towards Native Peoples and African Americans. If we want to be more inclusive – both in ALSC and as a profession – we have to acknowledge that many of our “classics”may represent a time period, but may not be suitable for children today. I do not want to recommend a book to a child that promotes racism or stereotypes, and I do not want any child to feel belittled or upset because they assume that ALSC supports these beliefs through indirect association via a named award.
Nostalgia is not a reason to support a named award. It’s not a disservice to Wilder, it’s a reminder that ALSC welcomes all members.
Thank you to the ALSC Board for making the right decision!
Jennifer Leonard
Thank you Christopher Brown for your informed comment. I wish more of those commenting were as thoughtful and reasonable as your comment is.
Andrea
I wholly support this change: thanks for being brave and doing the right thing to signal that we support children’s literature in ways that are reflective of what we know is best for young readers of all cultural backgrounds. Great job!
Chris Naff
I must agree with Laura Coon! This decision was , as she so succinctly put it: A NO BRAINER! Librarians without brains did this.
Gerard P
Political correctness run amok…
Gail Gilliland
This is a sad, sad choice you’ve made. Next will you ban or edit “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell because Scarlet’s beloved “Mammy” is a stereotype? These works reflect the historical times in which they take place. At the very lest, they tell the reader how far we’ ve come. You want everyone to believe there was never prejudice against blacks or native Americans? Why can’t you just add an asterisk with some sort of disclaimer so you don’t have to go on feeling guilty that you left the book alone? Laura Ingalls Wilder did a lot for early American literature, and for women writers – of all colors. You have no right whatsoever to edit her work.
Linda Trondson
I feel sad that decisions are made by a few, while the masses enjoyed the literature of Wilder.
Dan
If the Little House books are so controversial, why have they never made it on to your annual list of banned and challenged books?
Jennifer Leonard
If I understand correctly, the name of the Award has changed.
It used to be called “The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award” now it is called “The Children’s Literature Legacy Award”. Is the way she talked about non white people in her books the reason for changing the name of the award? Are her books still available in libraries and for purchase in book stores?
If so, then the negative comments written in response to the name change decision are out of proportion to the decision.
Bill Coleman
I still want to know whether any institutional mechanism exists to reverse this decision.
Kelly
I am sure there is. However, be careful, as the ALSC will censor your comments, should they find them a bit too impactful. It is no coincidence that your comment and question hasn’t been officially answered as of the time of my reply. I recommend going straight to the White House with this one. Whether you agree with the current administration or not, it has shown it is willing to take action on sensitive issues without hesitation. It is clear and beyond any doubt that this decision is wrong in any sense of the word academic. Quite rightly, it should be reversed.
Therese
It is an award that belongs to ALA and ALSC. This is a member organization so I am not sure what you think would be accomplished by going to the White House. If you are a member you could perhaps request a vote of the membership of ALSC or ALA . As an aside I am sure that every member of the ALSC Board has read the books and most likely as children even. I respect the people who made the decision and understand their reasoning. It was a shock for me when I first heard they were starting a process to look into the naming of the various awards starting with the Wilder. I was a passionate child reader and rereader of all but Farmer Boy. I got them on my own at the public library. There was no adult involvement in my reading. I have read them again as an adult including Little House on the Prairie. On that last reading a couple of years ago my very old adult mind winced at Ma’s statements and behavior. While I did not necessarily embrace the name change I fully embrace why others have. No one is saying you have to throw away the books and Wilder will always be the first recipient of the award as well as a five time recipient of the Newberry honor. Even her most recent biographer has said in the Washington Post that Wilder would understand why.
Kelly
It’s a government funded organization. Pull the funding.
Therese
Kelly it is a member funded organization. We volunarily pay dues to belong. I am guessing by this comment you are not a member. I have been a continuous member since the 1970’s.
Kelly
Therese, while your passive-aggressive statement is technically correct, dues alone do not fully fund the ALSC. In any case, I am glad to see that you are a long-standing member.
J. Maxwell Miller
“We cannot take our opinions from our fathers nor even keep the opinions we formed for ourselves a few years ago. Times and things move too fast.”… Laura Ingalls Wilder
A writer who may be one of the main reasons I am an open-minded critical thinker is shunned by my peers for telling the truth about attitudes at the time she was a child, attitudes that she obviously thought critically about as that child, evidenced by her stories, and even as an adult, as she made this quote only ten years before her death. This is the first time ever I have been ashamed to be a Librarian!!!
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books are one of the biggest reasons I learned to love libraries as a child. This love has turned into a career of over 25 years in Librarianship. Now, the national organization that claims to represent me has not only insulted one of the greatest American writers, but me. I will never be a member again!!!
John Brock
The intentionally profound statement that this unquestionably poor politically driven decision broadcasts, has zero basis in learning and behavioral science. It is purely a product of forced idealism in order to meet a cooperative agenda against democratic principles.
John
It is quite clear that the ALSC leadership is unconcerned with broadening the minds of our children. Rather, it is engaged in narrowing the minds of our children by steering them away from American history as it truly was, to a manufactured history that is the result of politically driven changes which on the surface can be argued as being superficial. In reality they are profoundly damaging and wholly undemocratic based on their collectivism and agenda which supports a predetermined outcome.
ilene moskowitz
I am a children’s librarian for many years, and am active politically in causes which promote human rights and respect for all peoples. The decision to remove Wilder’s name from the award saddens me and makes me ashamed to call myself a librarian – especially since in the past, the ALA was in the forefront of the fight against censorship.
Kelly
Thank you for you heartfelt words. Please tell as many of your colleagues about this decision. Please ask them to write, call and email the board of the ALSC and the ALA as well as their congressional representative to request a reversal or a public vote . We have to protect the right of our children to learn about American history as it was, not as we want it to be and to respect well intended authors of a different time for all that made them American.
Gary Hondel
You’re right, Ilene. Censorship is exactly what this is. Thinly veiled as social awareness. As I’ve suggested in previous posts, why not simply create a new award which is apart from the Laura Ingall’s Wilder Award? Rather than trying to change what has already been clearly established, admired, and respected.
Kelly
It’s hard to do when the goal is not to adhere to proven, logical principles but to satisfy your personal beliefs and that of your constituents. The ALSC is trying to soften history and impose its own belief system upon children, instead of guiding them through history as it really was. This is about more than a single award. It’s about an organization that has become too close to the issues, too political and is no longer objective. The leadership has to go.
Lynne
Strange to see respected Diversity Jedi arguing less than a year ago in the Horn Book “Reading Roger” discussion about how Kirkus removed its star from AMERICAN HEART (October 19, 2017) how Kirkus should NOT erase from its website that the book had once received a star, but now countenancing the erasure that the Legacy Award had ever been named anything different.
Mark
At the time she was a child, Laura and her family had little to no interaction with native Americans . As a historian we can’t take steps to wipe out our literary past or we will see it reemerge in our literary future . When we blog out the negative parts of our past we set up our future children for this same hated to re-emerge .
Maria
What an utterly ridiculous snd spineless decision!