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Make sure you slide all the way to the right/end for all information!

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Make sure you slide all the way to the right/end for all information!

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1.) Language & Profanity
2.) Alcohol Consumption & Underage Drinking
3.) Violence
4.) Unpatriotic Views of the American Revolution

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Click play to see examples of profanity used in My Brother Sam is Dead.
*Another example not included in the video is that the novel also makes use of "Jesus" or "God" in a non-religious manner, violating the 2nd Commandment of not to take the Lord's name in vain."*

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Click play to hear more about drinking in the novel My Brother Sam is Dead.

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Unpatriotic Views of the American Revolution

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Unpatriotic Views of the American Revolution

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Americans have long withheld the belief that in the American Revolution, the Americans are the "good guys" and the British are the "bad guys." For example, many students learn in school that the Boston Massacre began with British soldiers opening fire on Boston colonists for no reason. However, once researched further, the colonists are described as taunting and jeering at one singular British soldier and igniting a fight. My Brother Sam is Dead portrays the image that in fact both the Patriots and British soldiers do terrible things to each other. Neither side are portrayed as heroes in the novel - both sides cause death and agony for Tim.

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Why Did the Boston Massacre Happen?

Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain's tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, "no taxation without representation."

Skirmishes between colonists and soldiers-and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)-were increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.

On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist's store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots.

Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come.

How Many Died After Violence Erupted?

On the frigid, snowy evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the only soldier guarding the King's money stored inside the Custom House on King Street. It wasn't long before angry colonists joined him and insulted him and threatened violence.

At some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice and stones. Bells started ringing throughout the town-usually a warning of fire-sending a mass of male colonists into the streets. As the assault on White continued, he eventually fell and called for reinforcements.

In response to White's plea and fearing mass riots and the loss of the King's money, Captain Thomas Preston arrived on the scene with several soldiers and took up a defensive position in front of the Custom House.

Worried that bloodshed was inevitable, some colonists reportedly pleaded with the soldiers to hold their fire as others dared them to shoot. Preston later reported a colonist told him the protestors planned to "carry off [White] from his post and probably murder him."

The violence escalated, and the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs and sticks. Reports differ of exactly what happened next, but after someone supposedly said the word "fire," a soldier fired his gun, although it's unclear if the discharge was intentional.

Once the first shot rang out, other soldiers opened fire, killing five colonists-including Crispus Attucks, a local dockworker of mixed racial heritage-and wounding six. Among the other casualties of the Boston Massacre was Samuel Gray, a rope maker who was left with a hole the size of a fist in his head. Sailor James Caldwell was hit twice before dying, and Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded.

Boston Massacre Fueled Anti-British Views

Within hours, Preston and his soldiers were arrested and jailed and the propaganda machine was in full force on both sides of the conflict.

Preston wrote his version of the events from his jail cell for publication, while Sons of Liberty leaders such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams incited colonists to keep fighting the British. As tensions rose, British troops retreated from Boston to Fort William.

Paul Revere encouraged anti-British attitudes by etching a now-famous engraving depicting British soldiers callously murdering American colonists. It showed the British as the instigators though the colonists had started the fight.

It also portrayed the soldiers as vicious men and the colonists as gentlemen. It was later determined that Revere had copied his engraving from one made by Boston artist Henry Pelham.

John Adams Defends the British

It took seven months to arraign Preston and the other soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and bring them to trial. Ironically, it was American colonist, lawyer and future President of the United States John Adams who defended them.

Adams was no fan of the British but wanted Preston and his men to receive a fair trial. After all, the death penalty was at stake and the colonists didn't want the British to have an excuse to even the score. Certain that impartial jurors were nonexistent in Boston, Adams convinced the judge to seat a jury of non-Bostonians.

During Preston's trial, Adams argued that confusion that night was rampant. Eyewitnesses presented contradictory evidence on whether Preston had ordered his men to fire on the colonists.

But after witness Richard Palmes testified that, "...After the Gun went off I heard the word 'fire!' The Captain and I stood in front about half between the breech and muzzle of the Guns. I don't know who gave the word to fire," Adams argued that reasonable doubt existed; Preston was found not guilty.

The remaining soldiers claimed self-defense and were all found not guilty of murder. Two of them-Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy-were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the thumbs as first offenders per English law.

To Adams' and the jury's credit, the British soldiers received a fair trial despite the vitriol felt towards them and their country.

Aftermath of the Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre had a major impact on relations between Britain and the American colonists. It further incensed colonists already weary of British rule and unfair taxation and roused them to fight for independence.

Yet perhaps Preston said it best when he wrote about the conflict and said, "None of them was a hero. The victims were troublemakers who got more than they deserved. The soldiers were professionals...who shouldn't have panicked. The whole thing shouldn't have happened."

Over the next five years, the colonists continued their rebellion and staged the Boston Tea Party, formed the First Continental Congress and defended their militia arsenal at Concord against the redcoats, effectively launching the American Revolution. Today, the city of Boston has a Boston Massacre site marker at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street, a few yards from where the first shots were fired.

Sources

After the Boston Massacre. John Adams Historical Society.
Boston Massacre Trial. National Park Service: National Historical Park of Massachusetts.
Paul Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
The Boston Massacre. Bostonian Society Old State House.
The Boston "Massacre." H.S.I. Historical Scene Investigation.

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Boston Massacre: Causes, Date & Facts | HISTORY

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The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston between American colonists and British soldiers. It helped pave the way for the American Revolution.

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1984 - Georgia
1989 - Ohio
1991 - South Carolina
1993 - Kansas
1994 - California, Pennsylvania
1996 - California, Colorado
1998 - Virginia
1999/2000 - Illinois
2000 - Pennsylvania
2009 - Georgia

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Anger over the use of "God" and "Jesus" in a profane way.

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5th grade parents were disturbed over the "offensive language" and "graphic violence" of the novel - they claimed that no matter the context, they language and violence was not okay.

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It was only last year that fifth-grade students in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District were asked to read "My Brother Sam Is Dead," a book set in the Revolutionary War. Their exposure to it didn't last long.

Within weeks, the book was removed from the classrooms and library of Bryant Ranch Elementary School after parents rose up in protest.

"My Brother Sam Is Dead" is "not G-rated," agreed members of the school board who considered the bloody account of war atrocities too strong for children. "Offensive language is offensive language. Graphic violence is graphic violence, no matter what the context."

Thus, "My Brother Sam Is Dead" entered the pantheon of books that carry with them the adjective banned, and gained entry among the thousands cited during Banned Books Week, the 14th annual celebration sponsored by the American Library Assn., which ends today.

It has plenty of company, being among the 760 "incidents of censorship" in 1994, according to the association.

From Orange County to Bangor, Maine, and everywhere in between, books are under siege. Teachers and administrators are hardly alone in facing the wrath of increasingly activist parents who object to many books children are exposed to in classrooms and school libraries. And the war on books is extending well beyond the realm of schools.

Opposition also comes from the Christian right, which is upset about books dealing with homosexuality, and ethnic communities, particularly African American groups, which are waging war against Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," now the most targeted book in America.

With a small African American population, Orange County has remained a safe haven for "Huckleberry Finn."

But the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition, based in Anaheim, and Robert Simond's National Assn. of Christian Educators, based in Santa Ana, were among those leading the charge against "Daddy's Roommate"--the most heavily banned book of 1993--which examines the sexuality of two gay men. Its primary audience: 5- to 10-year-olds.

The battlefield is full of other casualties, locally as well as nationally.

Only two years ago, "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy and "Ordinary People" by Judith Guest were "challenged but retained" in the Anaheim Union High School District, which in 1978 banned from its classrooms both "Silas Marner" and "Gone with the Wind." They have since been reinstated.

In 1992, students at Venado Middle School in Irvine were handed expurgated copies of Ray Bradbury's science-fiction masterpiece "Fahrenheit 451." An unidentified person had individually--and painstakingly--censored from each copy scores of words, mostly hells and damns.

The irony failed to escape scores of parents, who complained to school officials. After all, Bradbury's book involves parallel themes of book-burning and censorship, hence the title (451 degrees Fahrenheit being the temperature at which paper burns).

Such stories are commonplace in the annals of threatened books. In 1994, works under siege ranged, according to the library association, from "traditional fairy tales to how-to books about the occult, from dictionaries to religious works to social studies texts."

They included Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," which was challenged in Bedford, Tex., because it supposedly was "pornographic" and contained "satanic pictures." "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" was yanked in Conroe, Tex., after critics complained that too many racial slurs hovered among its pages.

Indeed, political correctness formed the cornerstone of most complaints in 1994, according to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the Chicago-based American Library Assn.

In 1993, the most challenged book in America, Krug said, was "Daddy's Roommate," by Michael Willhoite. Targeted for children, the book, in the words of critics, seeks to condone, explain or promote homosexual lifestyles. The book was never introduced in Orange County schools.

But in 1994, and through the first six months of 1995, Krug said, a new contender has taken hold. Mark Twain's classic "Huckleberry Finn" has become the "most threatened or challenged book of our time," she said.

In its case, however, the critics are not advocates of the Christian right or even secular conservatives. Twain's fiercest foes include the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and other African American groups, which say the book's language is racist.

Complaints cited by a school in Butler, Ga., were typical of those raised. " 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' " officials said, "contains racial slurs and bad grammar and does not reject slavery."

Such opposition leaves Krug incensed.

" 'Huckleberry Finn' has been challenged since it was published," in the late 19th Century, said the library executive, who is also a ranking member of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It was challenged initially because it was anti-slavery, and in those days you didn't take that position.

"The book has a character named Huckleberry Finn, and yes, it has a black character named Nigger Jim--who is compassionate and creative and astute. Really, he's the only character in the book with any brains. It merely reflects the period of time in which it was written. And it reflects the author's views that slavery was abhorrent."

The Anaheim Union High School District has developed a policy for dealing with parents who raise challenges to such books, and in recent years, the challenges have been more frequent.

District official Camille Dolas said parents who approach a teacher with complaints about a book are asked to fill out a "challenge form."

That form is sent to the superintendent of schools, who advises the board of trustees, who then appoint a challenge committee of five to nine members.

"We try to insure a majority of parents to avoid an overabundance of educators," Dolas said. "We do insist, however, that everyone read the book in its entirety."

The pros and cons of the book are then analyzed and discussed, "much as if the work were on trial," Dolas said. After the committee votes, its recommendations are sent to the board of trustees, and they have the final say.

In Anaheim, the thoroughness of the approach has helped to keep certain books on the shelves, Dolas said. But in her view, its most rewarding aspect has been in keeping everyone's emotions about this book or that as mellow as possible.

"Ours is a rational process," Dolas said, "but unfortunately, when you're dealing with challenges to books, you're often not dealing with rational people. For some reason, people get that way about books."

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Book Brouhaha

Here's a list of some of the books that have been banned or challenged in Orange County:

* "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury: Expurgated at Irvine's Venado Middle School in 1992. Students received copies with scores of words--mostly "hells" and "damns"--blacked out. The novel is about book burning and censorship. After receiving complaints from parents and being contacted by reporters, school officials said censored copies would no longer be used.

* "My Brother Sam Is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier: Removed from fifth-grade classes at Bryant Ranch Elementary School in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District in 1994 because "the book is not G-rated. Offensive language is offensive language. Graphic violence is graphic violence, no matter what the context."

* "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy: Challenged as "obscene and pornographic" but retained in the Anaheim Union High School District in 1993.

* "Silas Marner" by George Eliot: Banned from Anaheim Union High School District English classrooms in 1978.

* "Ordinary People" by Judith Guest: Challenged because it is "degrading to Christians" but retained at the Anaheim Union High School District in 1993.

* "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell: Banned from Anaheim Union High School District English classrooms in 1978.

Source: American Library Assn.; Researched by MICHAEL GRANBERRY / Los Angeles Times

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Censorship Story Is Far From a Finished Work : Books: Texts in local schools are among those targeted for banning because of controversial content.

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It was only last year that fifth-grade students in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District were asked to read "My Brother Sam Is Dead," a book set in the Revolutionary War. Their exposure to it didn't last long. Within weeks, the book was removed from the classrooms and library of Bryant Ranch Elementary School after parents rose up in protest.

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In addition to worries over the profanity in the book, two parents were upset over the graphic descriptions of the deaths of Ned and Sam.

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A grandmother counted 25 uses of profanity in the book during a visit to her granddaughter's fifth grade classroom. She claimed not to want censorship, but rather than the book just be acceptable to everyone.

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#1 March - Staunton - A mother was upset over the use of the language in the novel. She wasn't bother by the violence so much as the language.
#2 December - Hampton - There was anger over the usage of the words "damn," "bastard," and "hell."

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5th grade parents were concerned over the profane language usage and descriptions of violence.

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The Southern Columbia school district decided that the profanity neither added nor detracted from the novel. They gave parents the option of having their students read the book with profane language blacked out or not.