Remembering Lee Burress: A Champion Against Censorship
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| Lee Burress in front of Old Main, 1971. UWSP News Service Negatives Collection, N2, Box 2, Folder 14, Page 268. |
A Voice Against Censorship
In 1958, Burress began teaching English at what was then Wisconsin State College at Stevens Point (now UWSP). His academic interest in censorship was shaped by ongoing battles over book challenges that impacted both him and his students. While teaching in Kansas in the 1950s, Burress publicly criticized federal legislation that sought to create a censorship committee for books. His outspoken stance incited local outrage, leading some community members to call for his removal from the faculty.[1] Similarly, Burress’s students encountered difficulties when they chose to teach with books that faced opposition from parents, school board members, or administrators. Burress noted that some of his former students lost their teaching positions for including challenged materials in their curricula.[2]
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Warsaw, Indiana, book burning, December 1977. The American School Board Journal, June 1979, Vol. 166, No. 6, page 27. In UWSP Collection 34A, Box 1, Folder 3. We often associate book burnings with Nazism and other totalitarian regimes, but the United States also has its own troubling history of book burnings. In this striking 1977 photograph, residents of Warsaw, Indiana, burn books that were removed from the local school library. This photograph and the corresponding article are just one of several documents included in Lee Burress’s Censorship Resource File. All of Burress’ s files on censorship and book challenges are available for research in the UWSP Archives. |
The Legacy of a Scholar
Burress’s impact extended beyond UWSP. In 1965, Burress organized
a conference on “Book Choice, Book Use, and Intellectual Freedom in the
Schools” that was held at Wisconsin State University, Stevens Point. The
conference brought together a diverse array of English teachers, librarians,
school superintendents, religious groups, and scholars from across Wisconsin
and the Midwest for a three-day exploration of the best practices for selecting
and teaching literature.[3]
In addition to raising awareness about the increasing frequency of book
challenges in the 1960s, conference attendees also collaboratively crafted and
signed a joint statement on effective book selection. This statement advocated
for a balanced approach that embraced community and parent input while also valuing
the professional expertise of educators.[4]
Burress also conducted in-depth research on the issues of
censorship and book challenges. Beginning in 1963 and continuing throughout the
1970s, Burress collaborated with the National Council of Teachers of English
(NCTE) to design and distribute several surveys aimed at quantifying the impact
of censorship and book challenges in Wisconsin and across the nation.[5]
Burress’s findings revealed a dramatic 50 percent increase in school censorship
from 1963 to 1977 and highlighted a shift in influence: parents and community
members, rather than teachers or school administrators, were increasingly
driving book removal requests.[6]
Burress’s research meticulously documented how censorship advocates framed
their objections to books. His data sets on book challenges include the
specific reasons cited for challenging each book, the individuals who made the
challenges, and the actions taken by schools in response. For example, in 1973,
a parent of a student at a rural high school in the southern United States
objected to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath due to concerns over
“curse words and sordidness.” In this instance, school officials ultimately chose
to remove the book from classroom use.[7]
Continuing the Fight
A central theme in Burress’s critique of censorship was the
disparity between public justifications for challenging books and the deeper,
often hidden motives behind these challenges. In a 1981 interview with the Milwaukee
Journal, Burress observed that while censors commonly cited concerns about
sex and profanity in books, these objections frequently served to obscure the
real goal of many book challenges: the removal of books that critique various facets
of American society, especially those that discuss issues of race, class, and
gender.[8]
In an aptly titled interview with The Pointer, Burress elaborated on what
he viewed as the real driving forces behind censorship efforts, stating:
There is always a hidden agenda working. Those persons who
would like to keep blacks in their places, who are opposed to the labor union
movement, who are opposed to the ERA, that think women should be kept
“pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen,” those forces that have long opposed
education for everybody, those to a considerable degree lie behind this rather
uninformed, newlywed group of people.[9]
Burress described a specific example of this phenomenon
during a radio debate with Mel Gabler, a prominent censorship advocate of the
1980s.[10]
Burress recounted how a banker in Iowa requested the removal of The Grapes
of Wrath from a local school library. Although the banker claimed his
objection was due to the book’s offensive language, Burress argued that the
banker’s true concern was the book’s critical portrayal of the American
economic system, which benefits bankers and large corporations at the expense
of small farmers like the Joad family.
Explore the Legacy
Burress’s research and advocacy remain highly relevant, particularly
in light of the recent surge in book challenges across Wisconsin and the nation.[11]
His extensive collection of research data offers valuable insights into how
book challenges have evolved over time. In addition, his thorough analysis of
the underlying forces behind censorship provides librarians and educators with
effective strategies for addressing these challenges. A central theme in Burress’s
work is the crucial role of community engagement and open discussion about
literature to ensure books are chosen democratically.[12]
This underscores the collective responsibility we share in upholding the
freedom to read and celebrating banned books within our communities.
The UWSP Archives houses a rich collection of materials on Lee Burress’s fight against censorship, including audio recordings, news articles, and personal correspondence. These documents are invaluable for anyone interested in understanding the history and ongoing challenges of intellectual freedom in our schools and libraries. To learn more about the holdings of the University Archives, contact the Archives reference staff at archives@uwsp.edu
[1]
“Censorship Expert, Lee Burress, dies,” Stevens Point Journal, March 29,
1993. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder 3.
[2]
“Censorship in the Schools - A debate between L. Burress and M. Gabler” [Audio
Recording]. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 15.
[3]
UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder 4.
[4] “Change
Censorship Policies, Ask Educators,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, July
15, 1965. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder 4.
[5]
UWSP Collection 34, Box 3, Folder 10.
[6] UWSP
News Release dated December 12, 1978. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder 3.
[7]
“Books Objected To, National Questionnaire, April 1973.” In UWSP Collection 34,
Box 3, Folder 10.
[8]
Donna Sanders, “Censorship growing, prof says,” Milwaukee Journal, March
22, 1981. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder 3.
[9]
Michael Daehn, “Book Banners Beware: Burress Cuts Through the Chaff,” The
Pointer, October 22, 1981, page 13. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder 3.
[10]
“Censorship in the Schools - A debate between L. Burress and M. Gabler” [Audio
Recording]. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 15.
[11]
Rachel Hale, “School libraries experience increasing challenges,” Stevens
Point Journal, July 8, 2024, page 1.
[12]
Donna Sanders, “’Ban the book’ on the upsurge,” St. Paul Sunday Pioneer
Press, March 22, 1981, pages 1 and 4. In UWSP Collection 34, Box 1, Folder
3.
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