9 Racist Books for Children
In this age of modernism, there is still room for destructive thoughts which trigger mayhem in a society. Yes, it may really seem strange for all those social up-lifters who have worked for years to sustain diversity amongst men of all cast and creed. Racism still exists in the so-called modern society and the word is not just enough to be eliminated from the dictionary but from the entire world as well. It’s a curse that has taken lives and initiated turmoil in the steady lives of those innocent families who were subjected to victimization of this awful notion.
Schools, Colleges, Universities and other educational institutions are trying out their level best to put off the flames of racism that are still burning in the hearts of people. This has leaded the Governments to act sternly against such orthodox notions.
You would be astounded to know that even in this age of technological advancement people are forcing budding minds to follow racism. There are books for children which are filled with contents that allow the essence of racism to work and initiate some sort peculiar and unfair questions in the young brains. These books on racism are banned from being published and circulated in the market.
The adolescence age is a sensitive stage when a person experiences mental transitions whether bad or good. It is the time when the mind picks up anything that is wrongful or righteous for the welfare of oneself and the society.
The content is all about bringing awareness in the minds of young people to discard racism which is as evil as Satan’s deeds.
Little Black Sambo: this controversial book on racism is a children’s story which was written by Helen Bannerman. The book has got some illustrations which bear the racial ideologies. Like the way Little Sambo, the main character is described directly or indirectly leads to racial notions. The small boy is immensely dark and has features such as rolling white eyes, broad nose and red wide lips denoting the features of a Black child. The book was marked as the base for typical Pickaninny stories for children. Sambo itself is a racial slur used in the story hurting black sentiments which is fairly unlawful. Due to these common reasons the book got banned.
Little Blue and Little Yellow: Leo Lionni’s book on racial notion is good enough. He is thoughtful in depicting the racial contrasts of the society with geometrical shapes that are in single shades of blue and yellow. It is story of friendship which goes further to showcase the after-effects of racism.
The Chronicles of Narnia: C.S. Lewis’s work has been bluntly denoted as a book containing racist undertones. Here the Calormen are described as people having darker complexion clearly indicating a sense of racist touch. However the Narnians are people who are absolutely white in their skin tone. And sadly there lies a conflict between the Calormen and the Narnians.
The Three Golliwogs: this particular creation by Enid Blyton is based on a story which has controversial themes to play. It sometimes comes into mind as to whether the Golliwogs are victims of racism or just lovable characters in the story.
Kim: the masterpiece by Rudyard Kipling is subjected to controversial issues because of its racial connotations. The lead character, Kim is fighting to know his standing as he comes to face the bitter difference of his white blood and Indian way of living.
Tintin in Congo: Tintin, the favorite comic star faces controversial issues in this particular edition. The story has colonial discriminations which are highly political.
The Story of Babar: the Little Elephant: Jean de Brunhoff popular story for children is said to have political views in play. There are colonial ideas which are absolutely immoral for children at tender ages.
The Story of Doctor Dolittle: the book suffers from criticism due to high racism content. The story also contains some offensive words that are either inserted in texts or illustrated in sketches. The amendments to the book have been made in the year 1960 for better readership.
The Little House on the Prairie: How the American Indians are treated in the story is absolutely inappropriate for children to read. This book is absolutely based on the author’s personal happenings.
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on September 16, 2010. Filed under Entertainment, History.
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What a load of b.s. Especially the first one. What, when someone draws a black person you’re not allowed to draw him/her with the common facial features of actual black people? And Babar the little elephant? Get real. Obviously the person who wrote this article is clearly the racist here.
You have to understand that some of these older books illustrate the mindset of the time they were published in. While we think nowadays that they are racist or at least not PC, that was just the way most people thought — they meant well, they were just misguided. If you actually read them, a lot of these books aren’t racist in the sense of hatred or bigotry, but more about perpetuating stereotypes — and let’s face it, haven’t we all done that at some point or another?
I think the bible has a lot of anti-tolerance in it. maybe even more than the books mentioned above.
I agree with the commentors, most of these books weren’t written with any racism in mind, just the sign of the times, so to speak. Most of them are quite harmless and worth reading.
Hey, this is really agreeable and I really think that the books on racism is not meant about to hurt someone. It’s just for fun.
I don’t really think most of these books are “racist”… Interesting list for sure, but the title is misleading. Maybe “childrens’ books that deal with race issues” or something would be more accurate.
That being said, Little House on the Prairie was one of my favorite books when I was little. There are a lot of (somewhat) graphic descriptions of farm life (slaughtering hogs, injuries, racism, etc) but it makes for good teachable moments. Also, I found “Little Blue and Little Yellow” to be a really cute book, teaching a lesson without outright bringing up race relations to preschool children.
this is ridiculous, i grew up with most of these books and i’m not racist. what do you expect from some of these when they were written in a time when the terminology and imagery was common? how on earth would you draw a black person without using the color of their skin and typical facial features? i agree with all of you guys, this is bs.
This is a very careless lumping together of great children’s literature (cs lewis), history (little house on the prairie), stupid stuff (little black sambo) and junk that nobody reads anymore anyway (golliwogs?). Kids still love Babar, and it’s easy to skip the one adventure that depicts racist images of africans. I doubt that book is still in print.
Also, this list represents a very euro-centric view of the world that is increasingly irrelevant. If children today wanted to learn about colonialism, they’d learn about Tibet and China, not West Africa and the French. Times change.
A children’s book about the story of a white/asian/latin/arab/etc kid: totally normal
A children’s book about the story of a black kid: OMG THATS RACIST!
Um, a word with the writer(s) of this story, if you don’t mind too terribly.
The Calormen had a darker complexion in Lewis’ novel, but then if the authors of this buffoonery had any real research skills, they’d have discovered that Lewis based the Calormen on the Arabian culture as described by the Tales of the Arabian Nights. And just who wrote that? A collection of authors over the years, including Persians and Arabs. OOOPSY!
Lewis also made note of the positive attributes of some of the Calormen characters, including a princess who figures very prominently in the story, up to and including savings the lives of the main characters.
Contrary to popular thinking in the Age of The Hypersensitive, not everything written about other cultures by a while man is racist in tone, more than merely descriptive of what others from the same groups or groups have said themselves. Also, if we wish to get ticky about race issues here, it should be noted that the Arabs and Persians fall into the Caucasian line of race.
Clearly the author of this piece has never read Little Black Sambo.
It is set in India and chronicles the adventures of a very clever Indian child who uses wit and intelligence to beat some tigers. It has absolutely nothing to do with Black (African) people and the alleged racial slur in the book is the child’s name used before the racial slur began.
there is nothing in there to indicate that the people in the story are in any way stupid, in fact quite the contrary the child is both brave and intelligent.
Why not get the book from the web and check it out for yourself?
“in the minds of young people to discard racism which is as evil as Satan’s deeds.”
OK – it says everything about the skewed mind of the people who made the list.
Apart of that, the author often completely misses the point of the books – did he even READ them ?!?
Maybe he should have add Edwin Abbott’s Flatland and J-K Rowling’s Harry Potter for good measure… Maybe some Tolkien too (Narnia is more Bible-centric).
Why is there a picture of a Kim Harrison book there? Firstly, it is not a children’s book, secondly it’s not even remotely racist.
The Chronicles of Narnia, Barbar the elephant? Clearly you’re delusional. I suppose with enough misguided imagination, you can find racism in everything.
I was watching Colbert the other night, and he was interviewing Bill McKibben, uber-environmentalist, about the Keystone Pipeline. Colbert asked him how he got to New York for the interview–if he rode a bike, or if he drove there in a vehicle that runs on hypocrisy. Of course, Colbert’s being Colbert, but it’s an interesting point nonetheless.
Post-colonialism is essentialist in nature. It’s a vehicle that runs on hypocrisy. Yes, racism is a problem that needs to be resolved, but the sort of mindless stereotyping in this “list” isn’t the answer. Stereotyping all people of Western European descent as automatically racist isn’t anything but a new way of “othering,” and where’s the human progress in that? When has book banning ever been anything but a thought control tool for the narrow minded? There are a lot of people I disagree with in the world, but I thought being an American meant valuing everyone’s right to their opinion, even when we disagree?
It is dangerous to never question the motives of those who by their arrogance assume the moral high ground. By using inflammatory language like “racism,” they intend for people to embrace their solutions by fiat. We all agree racism is bad; therefore, if something is racist, we should all reject it by never exposing ourselves to it in the first place. But is that really the point? Most people don’t want to be thought of as racist, and young people are particularly susceptible to these kinds of messages. So does that mean it’s a good idea to tell them not to read certain books instead of teaching them the right values and allowing them to judge for themselves? You see, that’s what’s missing here, and the odd thing is people won’t stand for it when religious groups try these kinds of tricks based on rhetorical fallacies. It’s no different from any other kind of fundamentalism–don’t be fooled.
The comments on here are “typical” of people who have NEVER experienced RACISM in any shape or form due to the fact they could most possibly be white themselves… true or false? Didn’t think so. Being a young BLACK WOMEN growing up I have never witnessed any member of my family with bright pink lips and jet black tarmac coloured skin! The fact that someone pointed out that Little Black Sambo is a “great book about an Indian boy and nothing to do with black people at all” begs the question, why the HELL does he have black skin and afro hair?!!And why isn’t he called “Littled Indian Sambo”??!!!!! At the end of the day “he who FEELS IT, KNOWS IT!” It is clear to see the concerned people posting comments do not have a clue about stereotypes what so ever so until you get educated on the matter, PLEASE stop posting pathetic patronising comments! You’re making yourselves look so daft.
And just to highlight some other BLATANT stereotypical points that you have ALL missed. Racism is when one group is constantly depicted in a certain way. The black people in all the books are represented NEGATIVELY hence they reason why BLACK people (and possibly some white people who have a clue about racism) might be a tad bit offended. When you’ve grown up through your whole life having a LABLE attached to you it can become mundane and you beg the question do some people have nothing else to do but try and undermine people who are different from themselves?!…obviously not. Wake up and smell the coffee, the black people in the books are either servants, the clowns/joke or theifs…end of!! Cause of course thats all “black people” are capable of doing, how silly of me! The above books may have been “fun time franky” in other peoples households but growing as a black person these books were offensive, demoralising, insensitive piles of bullshit that were so incorrect it was untrue. Maybe if the authors took time to get to knw the people they may have encountered on their travels into other peoples countries, on missions to remove them from the motherland and enslave them for no reason other than personal gain, they would possibly have written completely different stories… but hey, who am I, just a humble black person, no one of significance. x
The 10th Racist book for children would have to be, Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. I blog about it’s racism here:
http://thepicturebookpusher.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/the-literacy-developme/