Texas County Changes Its Mind, Again Reclassifies Book Previously Reclassified as Fiction
- by Michael Stillman
Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Wampanoag historian Linda Coombs.
An attempt to denigrate a book if not hide it in Texas has been reversed, at least for the time being. In this era of increasing censorship of libraries, every victory adds a ray of hope that the freedom to read and speak will not be extinguished in America.
Last month, Montgomery County, Texas, just north of Houston, created a citizens' committee to review children's books in the county library. Librarians were removed from decision making. These types of committees have been popping up around the country recently, and in the name of “protecting” children, they serve as censors of views other than those of people in power. In this case, the committee chose to reclassify the book Colonization and the Wampanoag Story from nonfiction to fiction. The Wampanoag is an Indian tribe native to southeastern Massachusetts. They are the ones who “greeted” the Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1621 and began settling their land.
Interactions were at first peaceful, and they were the ones who celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims, presuming there is some truth to that story. As the new settlers began taking over more land, relations soured. The Wampanoag were not treated so well, some pushed into conversions, others sold into slavery. War broke out between the parties in 1675, King Philip's War. In a tale that would be retold over and over for the next couple of centuries, from Massachusetts to the Pacific coast, the invaders would win, if not every battle, then every war. They were too powerful, with larger numbers and better weapons.
The Wampanoag still exist in parts of their own territory, though in a small percentage of their original population. Their blood has been mixed with that of the settlers, much of their original culture forgotten or buried under the pressures of living in the world as it is today. Still, some cling to parts of the old culture and language, trying to retain a heritage that all should celebrate, even the people of Montgomery County Texas, so far away.
Nevertheless, the new committee consigned the Wampanoag story to fiction, treating the first citizens as if they were hobbits or some other sort of fictional beings. But, the decision took an unexpected turn for the committee. Citizens rebelled, and a group of organizations joined them, including Indian and pro-freedom groups, along with groups such as the Authors Guild, PEN America, Penguin Random House, and the Texas Library Association. Their voices were heard. The Montgomery County Commission reversed the order, put a hold on all committee actions post October 1, and set up a committee to review the policy that created this attempted censorship. The Wampanoag will again have the opportunity to speak the truth as they see it to the people who now control the vast lands that once belonged to them and their fellow native tribes.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Book of Hours.- Heures de nostre dame a l'usaige de Romme, Paris, Antoine Chappiel pour Germain Hardouin, [1504]. £6,000-8,000
Forum, May 28: Colonna (Francesco). La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, second edition, Venice, Sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. £15,000-20,000
Forum, May 28:The Christ Child holding a crystal orb and surrounded by banderoles with devotional exhortations, on a leaf most probably from a Book of Hours, [Southern Netherlands, last decades of the fifteenth century]. £2,000-3,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Jackson (Shirley). The Haunting of Hill House, first English edition, signed presentation inscription from the author to Claude Fredericks, 1960. £2,000-3,000
Forum, May 28: Lennon (John). In His Own Write, first edition, first impression, signed by the author, 1964. £3,000-4,000
Forum, May 28: Doves Press.- Keats (John). [Poems], one of 200 copies on paper, Doves Press, 1914. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Rodrigues (João Barbosa). Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensium, 2 vol., first and only edition, Brussels, 1903. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Newton (Sir Isaac). Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica…editio ultima, auctior et emendatior, Amsterdam, Sumptibus Societatis, 1714. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Kepler (Johannes). Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, wuibus astronomiae pars optica traditur, first edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1604. £5,000-7,000
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 28th May 2026
Forum, May 28: Tagliacozzi (Gaspare). De Curtorum Chirurgia per insitionem, libri duo, first edition, Venice, Gasparo Bindoni, 1597. £7,000-10,000
Forum, May 28: Lootsman (Jacobsz). The Lightning Colomne, or Sea-Mirrour, containing the Sea-Coasts of the Northern, Eastern and Western Navigation..., 1670. £8,000-12,000
Forum, May 28: Ribelles y Helip (José), Attributed to. An album comprising 33 finely executed watercolours of Spanish costume, bull-fighting scenes, and other genre subjects, [circa 1830]. £10,000-15,000
