When the school district of Waterloo, Iowa, withdrew from the state’s 19th annual African American Read-In over fears it would lose federal funding, author Nikole Hannah-Jones jumped into action.
Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The 1619 Project author and a Waterloo native, held her own read-in last weekend featuring authors Jacqueline Woodson, Derrick Barnes, and Tami Charles. Jason Reynolds appeared via video.
Charles’ All Because You Matter was featured in the state-wide read-in hosted by the University of Northern Iowa and joined virtually by first graders from schools across Iowa. But the Waterloo district’s legal team advised them to withdraw, citing federal directives that condemn diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Hannah-Jones spoke to local news KWWL about the climate of fear created by vague laws and executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“I think we as Iowans really have to decide: Who are we? Who are we as a community, and do we really want to be the type of state or the type of nation that bans books?” she said. “Free societies don’t do that.”
Iowa had the second-highest number of book bans during the 2023-2024 school year with more than 3,600 instances of book bans. Iowa’s SF 496, which took effect in July 2023, requires all materials to be “age-appropriate,” which it says excludes any description or depiction of a “sex act.” The law also contains “Don’t Say Gay” copycat provisions that prohibit discussions of LGBTQ+ identities in the classroom.
Hundreds of students and parents attended the Waterloo read-in, organized by Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Freedom School and co-sponsored by PEN America with Annie’s Foundation, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Veridian Credit Union, Believe Waterloo, Antioch Baptist Church, Community Foundation NE Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa Jacobson Center for Comprehensive LIteracy.
Barnes also read his picture book I Am Every Good Thing and Woodson read The Day You Begin. Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Freedom School, an afterschool literacy program, handed out more than 3,000 books.
The Waterloo school district has the highest percentage of Black public school enrollment in Iowa, with 27% of students identifying as Black.
PEN America’s Sabrina Adams attended the event and said that the school district’s move to withdraw from the read-in removes “the opportunity to engage with other students and fundamentally deprives them of cultural belonging.”
