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Claudia Hunter Johnson, author of the critically acclaimed memoir, "Stifled Laughter: One Woman's Story About Fighting Censorship," spoke at North Florida Community College recently about the dangers of censorship.
Johnson told NFCC students, faculty and staff that "censorship is a contagion that spreads without fear and the only antidote is courage." Johnson encouraged her audience to speak out to prevent book banning. "The answer to less speech is more," she said.
Johnson began her fight against book banning in Lake City, after learning that the local high school had proposed banning the Humanities literature text for containing Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tale, "The Miller's Tale" and Aristophanes epic classic, "Lysistrata," two of Johnson's favorite works. Johnson describes her battle with the school and court systems as long term, grueling, full of ups and downs and eventually ending in the favor of the Columbia County school system.
Johnson and her family relocated to Live Oak where she continued her fight on book banning with a greater success. After learning that Suwannee High School planned to ban John Steinbeck's classic novella "Of Mice and Men," Johnson rallied local residents and educators in protest. It was during a pivotal town meeting that Johnson's fight against banning the classic "Of Mice and Men" ended in her favor.
Johnson was a member of the founding faculty of the Florida State University Film School where she taught screenwriting for 13 years. She'll be returning to FSU this spring as "Distinguished Writer in Residence." She divides her time between Florida and Nova Scotia.
