“[W]hat people read is deeply important. … [I]deas can be dangerous; but … the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours.”
From the Freedom to Read Statement, American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers, adopted June 25, 1953, by the ALA Council and the AAP Freedom to Read Committee; amended January 28, 1972; January 16, 1991; July 12, 2000; June 30, 2004.
Subsequently endorsed by:
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
The Association of American University Presses, Inc.
The Children’s Book Council
Freedom to Read Foundation
National Association of College Stores
National Coalition Against Censorship
National Council of Teachers of English
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
