Wise Owl Wednesday #3 :: History of Censorship :: Part Three

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** Welcome to my new weekly feature, Wise Owl Wednesday, where you can butter up your brain with some children's literature facts - history, milestones, trivia ... stop by here to learn a little something about the amazing world of books for the young! **

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In honor of Banned Books Week (Sept. 25 - Oct. 2, 2010), I thought I would share the history of literary censorship.  I hope you find it as interesting as I did!!

Milestones in the History of Censorship (Part Three):

1713 - Daniel Defoe was prosecuted and imprisoned by the Whigs for penning treasonable anti-Jacobite pamphlets.  In 1720, his Robinson Crusoe was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books.
1726 - Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift was denounced as wicked and obscene due to its satire on courts, political parties, and statesmen.
1760 - South Carolina passed strict laws forbidding all African-Americans from being taught to read.
1762 - Jean-Jacques Rosseau's Emile was condemned and burned by Parliament of Paris.
1872 - Anthony Comstock founded the 'Society for the Suppression of Vice' in New York.  This was the first effective censorship board in the United States.

Source:  Through the Eyes of A Child: An Introduction to Children's Literature (5th Edition) by Donna E. Norton, copyright 1999 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.