Since the time of its publication in 1884, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has generated heated controversy. One of the most frequently banned books in the history of literature, it raises issues of race relations, censorship, civil disobedience, and adolescent group psychology as relevant today as they were in the 1880s. This collection of historical documents, collateral readings,and commentary captures the stormy character of the slave-holding frontier on the eve of war and highlights the legacy of past conflicts in contemporary society. These materials will promote interdisciplinary study of the novel and enrich the student's understanding of the issues raised.

Introduction
1 Literary Analysis: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and
Forms of Enslavement

2 Unfit for Children: Censorship and Race
FROM:
John H. Wallace, The Case Against Huck Finn, in
Satire or Evasion? Black Perspectives on Huckleberry
Finn (Durham: Duke University Press, 1992)
Julius Lester, Morality and Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, in Satire or Evasion?
David L. Smith, Huck, Jim, and Racial Discourse, in
Satire or Evasion?
Kenney J. Williams, Mark Twain's Racial Ambiguity,
in Satire or Evasion?
Kenneth B. Noble, One Hateful Word (New York
Times, March 19, 1995)
William Raspberry, We Give This Slur Its Power
(Washington Post, April 11, 1995)

3 Mark Twain's Mississippi Valley
FROM:
David E Dyer, Autobiography and Reminiscences (St.
Louis: William Harvey Miner Co., 1922)
Tom Horn, The Life of Tom Horn (Denver: Southern
Book Co., 1904)
James W. Evans and A. Wendell Keith, Autobiography
of Samuel S. Hildebrand (Jefferson City, Mo.: State
Times, 1870)
Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel
(London: Saunders and Otley, 1838)
Frederick Gerstaecker, Wild Sports in the Far West
(Boston: Crosby, Nichols and Co., 1859)
George H. Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the
Mississippi (New York: George H. Devol, 1892)

4 Slavery, Its Legacy, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
FROM:
Thomas Roderick Dew, 'Abolition of Negro Slavery,
in The Pro-Slavery Argument (Philadelphia: Lippincott,
Grambo, and Co., 1853)
James Henry Hammond, Letter to an English
Abolitionist, in The Pro-Slavery Argument
W. G. Brownlow, Ought American Slavery to Be
Perpetuated? (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co.,
1858)
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass (Boston: Boston Anti-Slavery Society, 1845)
Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
(Boston: Published for the Author, 1861)
David P. Dyer, Autobiography and Reminiscences (St.
Louis: William Harvey Miner Co., 1922)
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Fugitive Slave Law, in
The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (New
York: William H. Wise and Co., 1875)
William Hosmer, The Higher Law (Auburn, Mass.:
Derby and Miller, 1852)
Stephen A. Douglas, Measures of Adjustment
(Chicago, October 23, 1850)
Orville Dewey, The Laws of Human Progress and
Modern Reforms (New York: C. S. Francis and Co.,
1852)
Harriet Jacobs, The Fugitive Slave Law, in Incidents
in the Life of a Slave Girl (Boston: Published for the
Author, 1861)
William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Civil Disobedience, the
Draft and the War (Christianity and Crisis, February
5, 1968)
George Washington Cable, The Freedman's Case in
Equity and the Convict Lease System, in The Silent
South (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885)

5 The Code of Honor
FROM:
Thomas Nelson Page, The Old South (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892)
John Lyde Wilson, The Code of Honor (Charleston,
S.C.: James Phinney, 1858)
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1911)
Larry Watts, The Code of the Streets: An Interview
with a Former Gang Member (1995)
Elijah Anderson, The Code of the Streets (Atlantic
Monthly, May 1994)

6 Cultural Satire: Shakespeare, Home Decor, Sentimental Verse
FROM:
George C.D. Odell, Annals of the New York Stage
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1931)
Parodies of the Works of English and American
Authors (London: Reeves and Turner, 1885)
J. R. Pugh, The Best Room (The Decorator and
Furnisher, October 1888)
Julia A. Moore, The Sentimental Song Book (New
York: Platt and Peck Co., 1879; rpt. 1912)
Max Adeler, Out of the Hurly-Burly (Philadelphia:
P. Garrett and Co., 1879)

Index