By: HISTORY.com Editors
ACLU successfully defends Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ in obscenity trial
On October 3, 1957, the American Civil Liberties Union wins its argument in The People of the State of California vs. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in which it defends “Howl,” the incendiary poem written by Allen Ginsberg, against charges of obscenity. The ruling becomes a landmark victory for literary free expression in the United States.
Ginsberg, a defining poet of the Beat Generation, wrote “Howl” in 1955 as a blistering critique of consumerism and conformity that had come to define many aspects of American society during the 1950s. The 112-line poem contains explicit references to illegal drug use and gay sex, along with profanity and other graphic language. Its publication announced an emerging and electric counterculture at the same time as it sounded a warning to many Americans as a troubling march toward the obscene.
The 1950s
The 1950s were about more than just poodle skirts and rock and roll.
The obscenity case began about 18 months after Ginsberg first read “Howl” in public. In March 1957, U.S. Customs officers in San Francisco seized 520 copies of Howl and Other Poems that had been printed in London. Other copies remained available, however, which led San Francisco police to target the work locally. In June, undercover officers bought a copy at City Lights Bookstore, which was owned by poet and Howl publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Police arrested City Lights manager Shigeyoshi Murao for selling the book and later arrested Ferlinghetti for publishing it. Ferlinghetti was charged with publishing and selling obscene material.
After a long trial in which noted academics, critics and poets testified to the poem’s value, Judge Clayton Horn decided Howl was of “redeeming social importance.”
The ruling catapulted Ginsberg into literary stardom and established “Howl” as a defining work of the Beat Generation. The case also inspired oncoming generations of writers to speak and write their truths brazenly, irrevocably changing American literary expression.
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Citation Information
- Article Title
- ACLU successfully defends Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ in obscenity trial
- Author
- HISTORY.com Editors
- Website Name
- History
- Date Accessed
- October 21, 2026
- Publisher
- A&E Television Networks
- Last Updated
- October 02, 2026
- Original Published Date
- October 02, 2026
