BannedBooks
Cover of Invisible Man
1952

Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison

An unnamed Black narrator recounts his journey from the Jim Crow South to Harlem's political underground, describing how racism renders Black Americans literally invisible to white society. This National Book Award winner was challenged in several US school systems for its language and sexual content, and was removed from a Butler County, Pennsylvania high school reading list in 1975.

raceidentitypoliticshistorylanguage

Why this book is challenged

  • racial slurs
  • sexually explicit content
  • language
  • racial themes