One Florida librarian circulated a memo to her colleagues calling the books “unwholesome,” among other things, and causing a run on local bookstores as children desperately tried to find them. The Detroit public library banned the Oz books in 1957, stating they had “no value for children of today.” The ban remained in place until 1972. ( You can find them all in text and audio format here.) And yet, “throughout the years the books have been opposed for their positive portrayals of femininity.” Various libraries used similar excuses to ban the books throughout the 50s and 60s. Frank Baum’s fantasy novel initiated a series of 13 Oz-themed sequels, all of which became immensely popular after MGM’s 1939 film adaptation. Not so much in 1928, when the Chicago Public Library banned The Wizard of Oz, writes Kristina Rosenthal at the University of Tulsa Department of Special Collections, “arguing that the story was ungodly for ‘depicting women in strong leadership roles.’”įirst published in 1900, L. And we can support a cultural industry thriving on strong female characters in fiction, film, and television. At least these days we can openly have the-often highly inflamed-conversation about sexism in business, entertainment, and government.

That opponent, of course, happens to be the first woman to run on a major party ticket in a general election.ĭo many Americans still have a problem with accepting women as leaders? I personally don’t think there’s much of an argument there, and people who see the question as redundant marvel at how long archaic attitudes about women in power have persisted. One candidate, a known and well-documented misogynist, leads millions of supporters calling for his opponent’s death, imprisonment, and humiliation. Still, one would have to work very hard on either side, I think, to deny the role sexism has played. so polarized that-as The Wall Street Journal chillingly demonstrates in their “ Blue Feed Red Feed” feature-the left and right seem to live in two entirely different realities. We’ve reached the final stretch of the most infuriating, unsettling election I’ve ever experienced.

L.frank baum complete oz series