On March 25, 1957, the U.S. Customs Department in San Francisco confiscates 520 copies of Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl and Other Poems, which had been printed in England. Officials allege that the book, and particularly its titular poem, is obscene.
After the federal government stopped pursuing the case, San Francisco authorities took matters into their own hands. City Lights, a local bookstore and publishing company owned by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, published Howl in the fall of 1956. The publication led to Ferlinghetti’s arrest on obscenity charges in June 1957. Ferlinghetti was bailed out by the American Civil Liberties Union, which led his legal defense. Nine literary experts testified at the trial that the poem was not obscene, and Ferlinghetti was found not guilty.
