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Suit to Bar “oliver Iwist” and “merchant of Venice” from N.Y. Schools Filed in Brooklyn

June 6, 1949
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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A taxpayer’s suit to exclude two classic works– “Oliver Twist” and “The Merchant Of Venice”–from New York City’s public schools was filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday by Abraham J. Alexander.

Alexander charged that the books are “avowedly anti-Semitic and anti-religious” and “intensify prejudice and are vehicles to spread intolerance” among pupils of the city’s schools. The petition names as respondents the Board of Education, Board of Superintendents and Dr. William Jansen, Superintendent of Schools.A hearing on the petition was set for next week.

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