Little Black Sambo

Little Black Sambo

During my childhood one of my favorite books was Little Black Sambo.  The funny thing is:  I loved it growing up, but my sister thought differently.  I can remember my mom reading the book to her the first time.  She cried and cried.  I think what made her so upset was when the tigers turned into butter.  It probably did not help anything when the Sambo family decided to fry pancakes with the tiger butter and eat them.  Let me say this:  Around the same time period, Lion King was the most popular movie ever.  That might have had some correlation.  Either way, my mom had to hide the book from her because she was terrified of it.  Over the years it was misplaced and gone forever.

The book had not reentered my mind until my parents went to Louisiana and brought it back for me a couple years ago.  I ran across it this weekend and decided to do a little research about Little Black Sambo.  I was shocked by the results.  Who knew that the book had any racist qualities to it?  Not me!  Apparently "Sambo" is a racial slur.  I'm not sure how or why, but it is.  I could come closer to thinking PETA has an animal cruelty case instead of the author being racist or creating a racist story for children.  Oh well, I still think of it as one of my all time favorite childhood books.  Here's a link, www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/sambo.htm , you can decide for yourself.