the american library association said librarians in every state are facing an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books in schools and public libraries and one of those books is the circle welcome by day ever -- dave eggers. >> thank you. you are a hero because you always make your patients smile and laugh around you. thank you brave juli. you always make sure patients have the support they need to be resilient and i smell the flowery bloom of roses next to you. >> the nonprofit is celebrating its 20 year anniversary and he joins us now along with the cofounder and veteran public school teacher and the current executive director who is also been teaching for many years. thank you for all being here. >> you have brought a wealth of books. tell me what is here. >> these are from the beginning and we thought we had to honor student work and students were writing short stories or poems or writing their own narratives and we wanted to make them codified or worthy of being in a library or sold in stores or give them professional treatment to honor the worker amplify it. >> these are all

just days ago the american library association reported that this past fall saw an unprecedented 330 challenges to their books. in november, i was fortunate to speak at a librarian convention where i was shocked to learn that the act of providing equal access to books and resources. has become more politicized and exhausting than ever. the movement to bam books is not just happening in our classrooms. it's happening in our libraries across our nation and our discourse. i'm sure you all remember a time in your childhood. when your parents were godlike? 200 feet tall all-knowing all-encompassing as long as they were around you were safe. for me that smoke screen faded early. when i landed at jfk airport at age seven i saw my parents shrink down to mere mortal size. overnight they were reduced to fallible beings who were just as confused and afraid and lost as i was. but for me library books and their characters never lost that holy quality indeed over the years as i learned to fear all authority figures under the threat of discovery and thus deportation. i somehow never feared. librari

it shouldn't be no surprise that speaks appeared on the american library association's top 100 banned1999. climbing higher on the list each year is the voracity behind the call to remove speak from school syllabus. and library shelves that have not seen, for many other banned book club features. here is one example of many. 2010, an associate professor missouri state university challenged speak in an op-ed entitled, filthy books, demeaning to our public education. writing in, part quote, as another school year begins our public schools, parents need to be cautious and inquire as to the nature of the material that their children may be exposed to, in high school english classes, children are required to read and view material that should be classified as soft pornography. one such book is called speak. and quote. let's look at the implication that, speak which is a young adult novel, is not appropriate for high school or middle school aged children. according to rain, the world's largest anti sexual assault -- , fema's age 60 1904 times more likely than the general population to be vic

mother established the white house library in white house historical association installed the curator and transformed it into one of the great collections of americanarts and painting. and when she was satisfied with the results, she welcomed the public on a guided tour for which she received an emmy. but the guidebook was her biggest challenge. it's hard to believe there was nothing for families to take home as a souvenir of their visit. she wanted something educational and dignified whose proceeds could fund future acquisitions and restoration projects. ahead of her time. she thought the white house should be beyond politics and should not be paid for with public money or become part of a political tug of war between congress and the president. this the guidebook doesn't sound controversial today, but the irish mafia that surrounded my father were deeply suspicious of her plans. they thought she was elitist and even worse french. and that her projects would cost my father political support. they wrote memos comparing the white house to the vatican and selling a guidebook to the money lenders in the we all know who won. and over time they realize

american historical associations littleton griswold prize for the best book and law in society and the southern historical associations charles sydney price for the best book in southern history. she's received fellowship from the newberry library the national humanity center national endowment for the humanities the acls the bogan high foundation and the american bar foundation. and today we're delighted that she's here speaking about her most recent book only the clothes on her back clothing and the hidden history of power in the 19th century united states. laura the screen is all yours. welcome. to the washington history seminar thank you so much for having me and thank you for the lovely introduction and thank you to megan and martha for coming today as well. so i'm gonna start with a story because the book is full of stories. so i'm gonna begin with six women in a sheet. so all of these women and the sheet appeared in new york city's municipal court in 1804, and actually it was the sheet that started at all which is apropos because this book is about a textiles. so one of the women sarah allingham charged another woman judith friel was stealing the sheet. although these charges really that's the oversimplified this whole s