Viewing Post from: Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books
A discussion on censorship through the Pelham Public Library, Fonthill, Ontario. Between February and June 2007, take the "Banned Book Challenge." A comprehensive list of "banned book" sites and resources for the novel "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury can be found on the sidebar.
The CBC reports that unless the name of Lawrence Hill's award-winning
The Book of Negroes is changed, a Dutch group called Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname is planning on burning the book to protest the use of the word "negro" in the title.
Author Lawrence Hill, winner of the Commonwealth Award and many other awards for
The Book of Negroes, received a letter from Roy Groenberg on behalf of the group who are descendents of the former Dutch colony Suriname. According to Groenberg, "We struggle for a long time to let the word 'nigger' disappear from Dutch language and now you set up your Book of Negroes! A real shame!"
Hill has responded by explaining that he based his title on an
actual historical document that was used to record names of over 3000 slaves who were British Loyalists during the American Revolution who were evacuated by the British and sent to Nova Scotia. Ship lists, physical descriptions of the slaves and where they were bound were included. Hill's intention was to bring this little known piece of history to light. Explains Hill, "I have found that when given the opportunity to see what I am doing in this book and with this title, readers understand that the title is not intended to be offensive, but that it is used historically, to shed light on a forgotten document and on a forgotten migration."
This is not the first time there has been controversy over the title of
The Book of Negroes. The US publisher opted for
Someone Knows My Name, as did the Australian publisher. In Quebec the book is titled
0 Comments on The Book of Negroes to be Burned on June 22? as of 1/1/1900
The CBC reports that unless the name of Lawrence Hill's award-winning The Book of Negroes is changed, a Dutch group called Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname is planning on burning the book to protest the use of the word "negro" in the title.