Dr. Seuss won’t be part of Read Across America Day in Virginia due to ‘racial undertones’
Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia have removed Dr. Seuss from Tuesday’s “Read Across America Day,” which coincides with the celebrated children’s author’s birthday.
But the school board clarified over the weekend that its decision, which was labeled an act of “cancel culture” by right-wing critics, only applied to the works of Theodor Seuss Geisel serving as the centerpiece of its annual March 2 celebration of literacy.
“Dr. Seuss books have not been banned and are available to students in our libraries and classrooms,” LCPS officials said in a statement published Saturday. “However, Dr. Seuss and his books are no longer the emphasis of Read Across America Day in Loudoun County Public Schools.”
Educators in the Washington D.C area suburbs released the statement to address “media rumors” about their position on books by the “Cat in the Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham” author, who was born March 2, 1904 and died in 1991.
The LCPS statement cites “strong racial undertones” including “anti-Japanese American political cartoons and cartoons depicting African Americans for sale” in the decision to put some distance between Dr. Seuss and Tuesday’s celebration of kids’ literature. The school district encouraged students to “read all types of books that are inclusive, diverse and reflective.”
While Dr. Seuss has been celebrated for generations, some of the author’s work — which include ads he published from the 1920s through the 1940s — has been criticized for their dehumanizing portraits of Black, Japanese and Middle Eastern people. Historians say the author later felt regret for the offensive content in his earlier work.
