Jane Austen is Not Being Canceled

On April 18th, The Telegraph ran a story the with the headline, “Jane Austen's tea drinking will face 'historical interrogation' over slavery links,” about the Jane Austen House Museum in England, which is dedicated to the beloved 19th century English author. The story claimed that in the wake of the black lives matter movement, the museum would be reexamining Austen’s habits such as tea drinking and wearing cotton, which connected her to the slave trade. Soon other platforms picked up on the baiting headline, with the Daily Mail calling it a “a revisionist attack," and claiming the museum had “fallen victim to 'wokeism'.” The rumor that Jane Austen was being “canceled” spread on social media.