![vamos a cuba[a visit to cuba] cover](http://www.marshall.edu/library/files/2023/06/visittocuba.jpg)
Marshall University does not ban books! The information is provided to let people know what has been banned/challenged elsewhere.
2009
Removed from all Miami-Dade (FL) County school libraries because a parent’s complaint that the book does not depict an accurate life in Cuba. The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit challenging the decision to remove this book and twenty-three other titles in the same series from the district school libraries. In granting a preliminary injunction in July 2006 against the removal, Judge Alan S. Gold of U.S. District Court in Miami characterized the matter as a “First Amendment issue” and ruled in favor of the ACLU of Florida which argued that the books were generally factual and that the board should add to its collection, rather than removing books it disagreed with. When the district court entered a preliminary injunction ordering the school district to immediately replace the entire series on library shelves, the Miami-Dade School board appealed the decision to the Eleventh Circuit Court in Atlanta (GA). In a February 5, 2009, two-to-one decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said the board did not breach the First Admendment, and ordered a Miami federal judge to lift a preliminary injuntion that had allowed Vamos a Cuba to be checked out from school libraries. But the three judge panel’s opinion – not unlike the School Board’s initial vote – was so fraught with political rhetoric such as “book banning” that further appeals seem inevitable.
2008
Removed from all Miami-Dade (FL) County school libraries because a parent’s complaint that the book does not depict an accurate life in Cuba. The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit challenging the decision to remove this book and twenty-three other titles in the same series from the district school libraries. In granting a preliminary injunction in July 2006 against the removal, Judge Alan S. Gold of U.S. District Court in Miami characterized the matter as a “First Amendment issue” and ruled in favor of the ACLU of Florida which argued that the books were generally factual and that the board should add to its collection, rather than removing books it disagreed with. When the district court entered a preliminary injunction ordering the school district to immediately replace the entire series on library shelves, the Miami-Dade School board appealed the decision to the Eleventh Circuit Court in Atlanta (GA). Oral arguments were heard on June 6, 2007.
2007
Removed from all Miami-Dade (FL) County school libraries because a parent’s complaint that the book does not depict an accurate life in Cuba. The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit challenging the decision to remove this book and twenty-three other titles in the same series from the district school libraries. In granting a preliminary injunction in July 2006 against the removal, Judge Alan S. Gold of U.S. District Court in Miami characterized the matter as a “First Amendment issue” and ruled in favor of the ACLU of Florida which argued that the books were generally factual and that the board should add to its collection, rather than removing books it disagreed with.
On These Pages
A Banned book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.
A Challenged book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.
For additional information contact
Ron Titus, titus@marshall.edu
304-696-6575
Last updated
August 9, 2010