black history that have been forgotten or inadequately remembered". On November 5, 2019, the BBC News listed Beloved on its list of the 100 most influential novels. Banning and controversy Beloved has been banned in many U.S. schools, including at least eleven during the 2021–2022 academic year. Common reasons for censorship include bestiality, infanticide, sex, and violence. In 2007, twenty years after its 1987 publication, the novel was abruptly abandoned by an AP English class at Eastern High School in Louisville, Kentucky, at the order of the school's principal. The class had nearly reached the end of the book when a parent complained about language on page 13. Upon being informed that the book was being immediately banned, the English teacher who was teaching the book argued to the school’s Site Based Decision Making Council that a college level English literature course should be taught. With the help of like minded teachers and an outpouring from Eastern’s alumni, the ban was soon lifted, and the book continues to be taught at the high school today. In Virginia, Beloved was considered for removal from the Fairfax County senior English reading list due to a parent's 2017 complaint that "the book includes scenes of violent sex, including a gang rape, and was too graphic and extreme for teenagers". Parental concern about Beloveds content inspired the Beloved Bill, legislation that would have required Virginia public schools to notify parents of any "sexually explicit content" and provide an alternative assignment if requested. The bill was vetoed by Governor Terry McAuliffe. When McAuliffe ran again for the governor's office in 2021, a major event in the election was his statement during a debate that, "Yeah, I stopped the bill that—I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." His opponent, Glenn Youngkin, seized on the remark, and produced a television commercial in which a parent recounted her effort to get the book banned. The commercial did not mention the title, author, or subject of the book, but focused on the "explicit material" in the unnamed work. Student activist group Voters of Tomorrow announced plans in February 2022 to distribute banned books to students in Texas and Virginia, including Beloved. Parents in the Katy Independent School District responded to the book distributions by filing a request to review Beloved, resulting in the book's removal from school libraries and restriction to 11th and 12th