The Story of Little Black Sambo

Rating:
Summary: I Like Little Black Sambo
Review: First of all I think that racism is learned. I found nothing wrong with this story and in fact it was one of my favorites as a kid. Many a time you would find us playing tigers running around a tree and melting into butter. To me, it is a story about a little black boy who has two parents who love him very much and give him gifts. The tigers try to eat him, he gives them his clothes and then, while they're fighting, he gets them back. I loved how the tigers turned to butter and Sambo got to eat 169 pancakes! Wow, a huge stack of pancakes loaded with freshly melted butter. I know my kids would love that. I asked my kids 12 and 10 what they thought of the story. Did they think it was mean to black people. We all agreed that it was a good story and could be written with any race and still be good. As for their names-since we haven't studied the history of how hated dark skinned people across the world have been in such depth, they don't mean a thing to us. Why wait 100 years to read the story just because some people can't get over the past? I hope you'll read the book and enjoy it with your children-that's what it was written for-and when you're done go make some pancakes together:)

Rating:
Summary: NOT Racist?
Review: I give this book four stars as a historical curiosity.

But apparently, as indicated by some other reviews, there are people who still read this ridiculous book to their children because they think it's... um... good. I don't think this book should be banned or anything, but it should be viewed for what it is: dated, racist nonsense.

Are reviewers who dismiss charges of racism unaware of the significance of the name "Sambo," and how racially charged it is? Could they justify their claims if this tale of a dark-skinned boy was instead called "The Story of Little Black N*****"?

Sambo in this book is indeed Indian, as some reviewers have noted. But again, are the book's fans unaware of the Britsh racism that Indians faced? (If not, I recommend that they at least rent "Ghandi" this weekend to get a sense of what Indian life under British rule was like.) Bannerman was British, after all.

Furthermore, I see little evidence that it even mattered to Bannerman or readers of this book when it first came out whether it was about Indians or Africans -- as subjects of the British Empire they all served as the White Man's Burden, did they not? Moreover, I'm suggesting that the tendency to lump all non-whites into the same supposedly inferior group is itself racist. And this book is certainly guilty of doing that.

Don't get me wrong: I have no doubts that Bannerman had benign intentions when writing this book, but I am unconvinced that her opinion of the Indian race was much higher than the opinion many American whites held of black people around the same time. And her portrayal of nonwhites as primitive cretins shows what this opinion was.

If you disagree with me, vote my review unhelpful. But before you do, I recommend reading a few history books. You'll probably learn a thing or two.

Rating:
Summary: Little Black Sambo
Review: I was given this book as a child, Sambo was my hero because he outwitted the tiger, I still love pancakes. As an African American grand-parent, I feel no offense, it is more about bullies, no matter what color.