Mom Who Tried to Ban Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ Is Now a GOP Star

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A mother who campaigned to get a classic Toni Morrison novel banned from Virginia schools is now front and center in a new ad for Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate. 

In 2013, Fairfax County parent Laura Murphy tried to get ‘Beloved’ banned from Fairfax County Public Schools for its “content,” after her son, then 17, said he had night terrors after reading it in an Advanced Placement (AP) English class.

“When my son showed me his reading assignment, my heart sunk,” Murphy says in the ad for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican. “It was some of the most explicit material you can imagine.”

Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Set during Reconstruction, the novel is about a mother who killed her infant daughter in order to protect her from the horrors of slavery. The book also includes scenes of sexual assault and bestiality.

The book has been on the AP Literature exam more than a dozen times since 1990, according to a frequently-cited list of titles tested on the exam since 1970. The American Library Association also said it was one of the 100 most frequently banned books between 2010 and 2019. 

Murphy goes on to describe working with lawmakers to get legislation passed that would have forced schools to notify parents of instructional material which included “sexually explicit content.” Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat now running for a second, nonconsecutive term as governor, vetoed the legislation. McAuliffe reiterated his opposition to parents dictating curriculum decisions during a debate in September. 

“He doesn’t think parents should have a say,” Murphy says. “He shut us out.” Murphy goes on to say that Youngkin, a former private equity CEO, “listens” and “understands that parents matter.”

Heading into next Tuesday’s election, Democrats control all statewide offices as well as both houses of the Virginia Legislature. But in recent weeks the governor’s race has narrowed significantly, and recent polling indicates the race is a complete toss-up.

McAuliffe’s campaign shot back Monday that Youngkin’s message boils down to “book banning and silencing Black authors in Virginia schools,” in a statement to HuffPost. 

“Racist dog whistles and divisive conspiracy theories have been front and center for Glenn Youngkin’s campaign, putting students right at the center of the ugliness and bigotry led by Donald Trump himself,” a McAuliffe spokesperson told HuffPost.