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How is the freedom to read linked with the First Amendment?

Image of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. 1883


The American Library Association was founded in 1876 to protect the “freedom to read.” Even though we have freedom to read and freedom of inquiry, there are many people who believe they know best about what is good for other people. These people try to persuade others to think the way they do. Independent thought has contributed much to our American society.

Fear lies behind most movements that want to control what other people read. When we curtail the dissemination of ideas, we limit the freedoms of the First Amendment. 

There have been many champions of freedom of speech. Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes freedom to read. Oliver Wendell Holmes (shown at the right), one such champion, wrote,

“The principle of free thought means not just free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom also for the thought that we hate.”