1. Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens

2. History Through Literature
The story is set in the USA, in the period of about 1830/40. This was before the American Civil War ( ) which was fought (mainly) over the issue of slavery.

3. Slavery
In this time, a slave was regarded as the property of his or her owner, that is the person who had purchased them.
A slave who ran away was severely punished: lashing was the 'easiest' of those punishments.
As we encounter these issues in the novel, we gain a perspective of the thoughts and beliefs of the people in this era.

4. Language of Huck Finn
The word “nigger” appears in the book 212 times. However, in the words of Russell Baker,
“The people whom Huck and Jim encounter on the Mississippi are drunkards, murderers, bullies, swindlers, lynches, thieves, liars, frauds, child abusers, numbskulls, hypocrites, windbags and traders in human flesh. All are white. The one man of honor in this story is ‘Nigger Jim,’ as Twain called him to emphasize the irony of a society in which the only true gentleman was held beneath contempt.”

5. Banned Books The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
"anti-white" and "obscene;" “excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, things  concerning moral issues, excessive violence." 
"sexual and social explicitness” "troubling ideas about race relations, man's relationship to God, African history, and human sexuality.”  
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
Turkish publishers on trial "for spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state” "book is full of filth.” “My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord's name in vain and has all kinds of profanity in it."
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
"demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal.” "excessive violence and bad language."
1984, by George Orwell
"pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter."
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
"psychological damage to the positive integration process” "represents  institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature.” “book’s use of racial slurs promotes ’racial hatred, racial division, racial separation, and promotes white supremacy
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
"profanity and using God's name in vain.” "Steinbeck is known to have had an anti business attitude.” "he was very questionable as to his patriotism.” "morbid and depressing themes.” "offensive and racist language." The word "nigger" appears in the book.
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
language & sexual material.

6. Banned Books Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Native Son, by Richard Wright

7. Tom Sawyer
Huck Finn mentions Tom Sawyer several times in the novel. He is an educated figure that Huck looks up to.
Mark Twain introduces his novel Tom Sawyer, “MOST of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual -- he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture.