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INTERRACIAL MATERIAL              COHEN

If possible, books on these subjects are reviewed for accuracy by a member of the national, religious, or racial group.[[end italics]]

We are appealing to teachers and librarians not only to select their materials for classroom use on the basis of the kind of sound professional criteria presented above, but also to heed the findings of the National Committee on Civil Disorders (Kerner Report) in its admonition that:

The quality of education offered by ghetto schools is diminished further by use of curricula and materials poorly adapted to the life-experiences of their students. Designed to serve a middle-class, much educational material appears irrelevant to the youth of the racial and economic ghetto. Until recently, few texts featured any Negro personalities. Few books used or courses offered reflected the harsh realities of life in the ghetto, or the contributions of Negroes to the country's culture and history. . . .Reduced motivation to learn results. 

The Council's major emphasis at this time is to encourage Afro-American authors to write children's books dealing with the life of black children by sponsoring three $500 cash prizes in a annual content, and by putting the contestants in touch with interested editors and publishers, after helping with manuscripts that show promise; to impress on publishers the need for more and better reading materials dealing with minorities in a positive way; to examine reading materials in use today and indicate those that in the opinion of the Council are useful and those that are offensive. As with the Dr. Dolittle series, we are recommending that offensive books be dropped from the approved lists in the schools and libraries, or that they not be purchased for use in schools and libraries. We are in the process of examining lists that can be recommended, with titles appropriate for teachers of interracial and multi-ethnic groups, which would be available to students and teachers in middle-class communities, as well as in inner-city school systems.

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-14 12:14:23 - "chased." at beginning of page is finished on previous page - part of "do not spread words across two pages"