Knox County votes to challenge Tennessee’s book ban law after “Roots” removal

Knox County school board banned Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'Roots' under Tennessee’s Age Appropriate Materials Act due to a passage depicting a rape, but the superintendent later reversed the ban. The board voted 5-4 to urge the Tennessee General Assembly to revise the law, which mandates book removals based on specific content criteria without exceptions for literary merit or historical context.