George M. Johnson
2 titles banned
Journalism and Activism
George M. Johnson grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, and attended Bowie State University, a historically Black university in Maryland, where they studied business communications. After graduating, Johnson became a journalist and cultural critic, writing extensively about Black LGBTQ+ identity, sexual health, and racial justice. Their work has appeared in Teen Vogue, BuzzFeed News, Entertainment Weekly, NBC News, The Root, and Essence, among other publications. They became known for a direct, personally invested voice—work that centers Black queer experiences in spaces where those experiences had too often been absent or flattened.
Johnson uses they/them pronouns and has spoken widely about the importance of pronoun respect, including within Black communities where gender nonconformity is often stigmatized. Alongside their writing career, they have been a fixture at school board meetings, legislative hearings, and anti-censorship rallies, making them one of the most visible author-advocates in the fight against book bans.
All Boys Aren't Blue
Johnson's debut book, All Boys Aren't Blue (2020), is a memoir-in-essays written for young adult readers. It moves through Johnson's childhood and adolescence in New Jersey and Virginia, addressing sexual identity, gender expression, violence, and familial trauma alongside joy, mentorship, and love. The book was written deliberately as a gift to young Black LGBTQ+ readers—people who Johnson grew up without seeing in literature. It includes a frank account of sexual violence that Johnson experienced as a teenager.
Since publication, All Boys Aren't Blue has appeared on the American Library Association's lists of the most frequently challenged books multiple years in a row, often ranking in the top three. Challenges have come from dozens of school districts across the country. Critics typically cite its explicit discussions of sexuality and sexual assault; Johnson and their supporters have argued that removing the book from libraries actively harms the young readers it was written to reach.
We Are Not Broken
Johnson's second book, We Are Not Broken (2021), is a young adult verse novel following three Black brothers dealing with the aftermath of their grandmother's death and navigating systemic racism, family fracture, and the question of what it means to be whole. Like All Boys Aren't Blue, it has been challenged and restricted in school districts across the United States. Johnson has continued to write, speak, and organize, maintaining that every book challenge is an attempt to tell certain young readers that their stories do not belong in public spaces.
