In 1982 the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) saw the need to bring attention to an unsettling trend: banned books.

Schools and libraries around the country were pulling books off the shelf because of objections to language contained in them. Such books included The Diary of Anne Frank and Huckleberry Finn. Authors whose books have been banned include Mark Twain, Anne Frank, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, J.D. Salinger, Bernard Malamud, Kurt Vonnegut, Isaac Asimov, and ASJA member Eve Merriam.

To counter the trend, ASJA launched its Banned Books campaign and the "I Read Banned Books" button.

The debut for the campaign was on the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, April 1, 1982.

Sally Wendkos Olds, ASJA President at the time, says "Among the people who read at that read-out at the library was a teenager getting started in her acting career -- Sarah Jessica Parker. Other readers included Isaac Asimov, Susan Strasburg, Eve Merriam, and Nat Hentoff."

Shown in the picture to the right is former ASJA President Patrick McGrady, who flew from Seattle to be a part of the event. Two persons to the right of McGrady is Sally Wendkos Olds holding a Proclamation from the mayor of New York.

The primary organizer of the event that kicked off the campaign was ASJA Member Evelyn Kaye. Olds recounted Kaye's efforts to McGrady in a May 1982 letter:

[Evelyn] launched and orchestrated the over-all effort. She has been fantastic right along with the buttons, going into the ASJA office once a week to handle button orders, stuff envelopes, etc. She has done a super-promotion job, generally being responsible for the enormous success. (We have so far sold well over 10,000 [buttons]).

Evelyn's most spectacular effort was the Read-out. She really got it off the ground, and I cannot imagine it would have been anything like the great coup it was if it were not for her efforts. She lined up all the speakers, making innumerable telephone calls to individuals, their publishers, and other representatives. She got us the best sound system available, at a fraction of its usual cost. She arranged for blow-ups of the book jackets. She lined up volunteers. She inveigled all sorts of people to support the effort -- the Playboy Foundation, which paid for the printing of the leaflets (I think she conceived of the leaflets in the first place); several publishing houses, which paid for blow-ups of the book jackets; Brentano's, which devoted a window to the Read-out.

The New York Times caught some of the festivity and enthusiasm of the BANNED BOOKS READ-OUT but it didn't mention the gaily bobbing white balloons with the red "I read banned books" logo. And the blow-ups of bookcovers, held by patient ASJA members. A few moments that caught my eye:

• A young black man murmuring "yeah, yeah" as Alice Childress read the moving chapter of the grandmother's memories from A Hero Ain't Nothin But A Sandwich.
• Avery Corman sharing his shock when he found that his book Kramer vs. Kramer was banned in Seattle, Washington, as he was on a promotion tour for it.
• Susan Strasberg recreating the words of Anne Frank as she read from The Diary of a Young Girl, a role she created on Broadway in 1955, watched by a 17 year old.
• Sarah Jessica Parker, the third Broadway "Annie" who read a lively passage from Judy Blume's It's not the end of the world.
• Scanning the looks of concentration on people's faces as Net Hentoff spoke out forcefully against all forms of censorship.
• Harry Milt coping with a constant stream of press people.
• Dr. Mary Calderone describing how a Catholic hospital destroyed sexuality materials she had sent for a conference.
• Barbara Seamn's clinical description of a diaphragm.
• Sally Olds reading from the Mayor's proclamation which declared April 1st as "I read banned books" day.

New York Times article from April 2, 1982  

News World article from April 2, 1982  

Since the beginning in 1982, the campaign against Banned Books has grown and continues with its own website -- BannedBooksWeek.org.  

To order buttons, click here.  

In the photo below Sally Wendkos Olds stands in front of the window on April 1, 1982 at Brentano's Book Store on Fifth Avenue across from Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Photos by Mark Olds