Court Suspends Panel That Decided History Book Is Fiction

The Texas review board that mandated public libraries move a book about the mistreatment of Native Americans to the "fiction" section has been suspended, as have all of its recent decisions, in response to widespread pushback. That means historian Linda Coombs' Colonization and the Wampanoag Story will be returned to the non-fiction section at public libraries in Montgomery County. "It needs to go back," County Commissioner James Noack said at a Tuesday meeting of the Commissioners Court, per Lonestar Live. "And just for the record, there should be no confusion. Something is either true or it's not true."

The court issued a stay against all actions by the citizens' review committee since Oct. 1 and said future decisions were on hold. It also appointed a new panel, made up of officials from commissioners' offices, "to review and revise library policy," including the role and makeup of the review committee. The citizens' committee was given the power to review books challenged in the county last March, replacing an earlier committee made up of five community members and five librarians, per Popular Information, which notes the change came after pressure from a local right-wing group.

The decision to reclassify Coombs' book about the Wampanoag tribe as fiction was widely panned as an attempt to dismiss Indigenous history and marginalized viewpoints. PEN America's Kasey Meehan said it "essentially eliminates the opportunity for a young reader to discover and learn the true story of the discovery of the Americas through an Indigenous perspective." PEN America joined with the Writers Guild, Coombs' publisher Penguin Random House, and numerous library associations to demand the county commission reverse the move. Separately, the National Campaign for Justice organized a petition that amassed more than 35,000 signatures. (More Texas stories.)