Race and Otherness in Historic Children’s Literature: Little Black Sambo

The story of Little Black Sambo, though simple in its story, has a complicated and emotional history. While unintended, the book has come to represent the face of inherent racism, censorship, and the struggle for equitable representation in literature.

Bannerman and the Beginnings of Little Black Sambo

The story of Little Black Sambo was born in 1898 on a train journey in India. Born in Scotland, Helen Bannerman moved to Madras, India soon after her marriage to William Bannerman, a doctor in the Indian Medical Service, in 1889 (Yuill, 1976, p. 2). The tale, originally written for Bannerman’s two young daughters, is a simple one.

Sambo, a young boy of unspecified race, is given a new outfit by his mother, Black Mumbo. While walking through the jungle in his new finery, Sambo is approached by a tiger who threatens to eat him. The clever Sambo convinces the tiger to take a piece of his new outfit in exchange for sparing his life. The tiger agrees and retreats into the jungle, leaving Sambo disappointed but unharmed. Continuing his stroll through the jungle, Sambo meets three more tigers in succession, each of whom he convinces to take a piece of clothing in exchange for his life. The four tigers, now dressed in Sambo’s fine new clothes, begin arguing which among them is the grandest tiger in the jungle. Preparing to fight, the tigers remove their newly acquired clothes. Sambo, who has been watching the ordeal from behind a tree, sees an opportunity and recaptures his clothes. Unaware, the tigers continue their fight by chasing each other around a tree, running so fast that they eventually turn into butter. Sambo’s father, Black Jumbo, finds the puddle of butter in the jungle and decides to bring a pot full home. Delighted with the find, Black Mumbo proceeds to make tiger pancakes with the butter. The story ends with Sambo, dressed once again in his new clothes, as his family eating huge quantities of pancakes.

Not So Simple

While relatively straight-forward on the surface, this simple tale has been a source of controversy and contention for over a century. Seen as a positive affirmation of the clever-thinking and resourcefulness of Sambo, a character of color, by some (Susina, 1999, p. 237). For others though, the foundation of story is built on the racism and prejudice of generations past. Regardless of Bannerman’s true intentions, it is safe to say that she was influenced by the colonialist mindset and inherent racism of her time (Susina, 1999, p. 241).

One aspect which certainly situated Bannerman’s text within a larger history of bigotry was the choice of character names. While the content itself doesn’t refer to the characters as being of African descent, the use of the name “Black Sambo”, “Black Mumbo”, and “Black Jumbo” undoubtedly imply that these characters are not white. For Bannerman, the actual ethnicity mattered little. In her world, anyone that was not white was the other (Susina, 1999, p. 241). Add to this the racist history of the name “Sambo”, commonly assigned to jester-like, ignorant Black characters throughout the 19th and early 20th century, and “Mumbo” and “Jumbo” which were used in connection with minstrel shows of the 1830s, and it’s easy to see why this text has offended so many generations of readers (Boskin, 1986, p. 4).

Contributing to the confusion, Bannerman also sets her story in an unspecified “jungle”setting. Given the fact that she resided in India with her family, it would be logical to assume that the story was also set in India though the inclusion of the qualifier of “black” Sambo leaves room for doubt. Early readers perceptively noted the ambiguity claiming that the inclusion of equal parts African and Indian placed the story in the realm of fantasy (Susina, 1999, p. 243). Future illustrators were quick to exploit this uncertainty in a way that best suited their own prejudices.

Innovation

Aside from the story, the book itself was somewhat innovative in its design. Many picture books at the time were rather large and cumbersome. Bannerman instead envisioned a book which was small enough to fit in the hands of a child (Hay, 1981, p. 1). In addition, each page of text corresponded with an appropriate image illustrated on the opposite page (Yuill, 1976, p. 2). The design was a simple, yet effective way to aid children in piecing together the story through words and images.

As Elizabeth Hay states in her biography of Bannerman, “Little Black Sambo embodied nearly all the principles on which present-day books for young children are based and was revolutionary in its day. It was one of the first books small enough for a young child to hold comfortably. The pictures were direct and vivid, and were printed in primary colours. The story - a simple tale of a little black boy escaping from tigers which has the deeper symbolism of a child with a brave spirit going out to face the world alone - is action packed and yet repetitive. It also lacked what had been considered essential in a children’s up till that moment: a moral purpose or improving tone” (Hay, 1981, p. 1)

Publishing

Little Black Sambo was originally written for private use by Bannerman’s daughters (Mielke, 2011, p. 247). The unique story coupled with the new, ingenious design appealed greatly to Bannerman’s friends, who eventually persuaded her to publish the book in England. Grant Richards of London agreed to publish the story under the condition that Bannerman sell the copyrights to the work (Yuill, 1976, p. 3). Bannerman, though reluctant, agreed and the story was officially published in October 1899. The book was an instant success and enjoyed numerous reissues and reprints. Unfortunately, with the sale of the Little Black Sambo copyrights, Bannerman lost all creative control of the work. The 1899 editions of Little Black Sambo as well as the 1900 editions published by Frederick A, Stokes, who purchased the copyrights from Grant Richards in 1900, contain what are believed to be the original reproduced illustrations created by Bannerman herself. While these original illustrations are certainly not without concern, they pale in comparison to the illustrations which emerged in later years.

Illustrations

As subsequent publishers acquired the copyrights, they attempted to keep the story fresh by acquiring new illustrators who left their own stamp of racism on the controversial history. American publishers in particular produced numerous “unauthorized” versions of the story which placed Sambo not in the fictional jungle but rather in Africa or the American South (Mielke, 2011, p. 252). As Mielke explains “The illustrations that have accompanied the numerous publications of The Story of Little Black Sambo in the United States serve as a manifestation of American ideologies and white American perceptions concerning all levels of acceptance of the African American population” (Mielke, 2011, p. 244). In its many years of publication, Sambo often took on the form of the picaninny, a racial caricature of black children which emphasized “bulging eye, unkempt hair, red lips, and wide mouths into which they stuffed huge slices of watermelon” (Pilgrim, 2012).

Some of the worst of these depictions can be found in the first 30 years of the story’s history. In 1908, John R. Neil (illustrator for the Wizard of Oz), presented Sambo as a picaninny child in the American South. In 1917, illustrator John Gruelle maintained Sambo’s “black-face” features but positioned him as the “noble savage” in the jungle covered by only a loin cloth. In 1918 and 1919, Florence White Williams’ returned Sambo to the American South setting. In 1926 (reprinted in 1935), Cobb X. Shinn adopts the poses of Bannerman’s original Sambo character but utilizes the black face, minstrel facial caricatures. In 1927, Frank Dobias uses bold, primary colors to recreate Sambo as the savage African, wrapped in a tiger skin. In 1931, Hildegard Lupprian returns to the picaninny depiction (Mielke, 2011, p. 250-257). Again and again, Sambo takes on the stereotypes which pervaded American culture. The prevalence of these depictions and the eventually backlash they received “demonstrate the power of illustration in culture in a specific time and place” (Mielke, 2011, p. 244).

The Fight Against Sambo

The first document pushback to the presence of Little Black Sambo in schools and libraries began in the early 1930s (Yuill, 1976, p. 11). At this time, leaders in the library and education fields began exploring the influence of these types of illustrations and the texts that accompanied them on both black and white students. In 1941, Charlemae Rollins, a Black librarian at the Chicago Public Library, published We Build Together: A Negros Guide to Negro Life and Literature for Elementary and High School Use, one of the seminal works in this field. In it, Rollins called attention to the damaging effects of these portrayals which served to support dangerous stereotypes by relegating African Americans to the role of subservient slaves (Rollins, 1941). Supported by this research, public and professional objection to Little Black Sambo heightened (Yuill, 1976, p. 13). One such opposition was leveled by Daniel Braithwaite. In 1954, Daniel Braithwaite wrote to the Toronto Public School system to respectfully request the removal of both the text and the subsequent film versions of Little Black Sambo (Braithwaite, 1958, p.2). Braithwaite explained that the name “Sambo” was often used to taunt black children in school, including his own. His request was ignored and denied a number of times on the grounds that the book had widespread appeal and was intended to be viewed as a fantasy (Braithwaite, 1958, p.9). After mustering the support of many prominent individuals in the black activist community, the Toronto Board of Education eventually agreed to remove the text from public school systems in 1956. The decision certainly didn’t go without notice. Multiple editorials called the move an “ridiculous” act of “book burning” claiming that the Board members had been pressured by “Negro parent organizations” (Braithwaite, 1958, p. 26).

The discourse around the controversy is strikingly similar to what one might hear today, particularly in regards to the cumulative damage caused by microaggressions. Opponents of the book that Sambo contributed to an ongoing system of racial oppression, one which indoctrinated young children with the concept that they or their black classmates were inferior; a concept which stuck with those children and created adults which thought along the same lines. Those in favor of the book, many of whom were liberal educators in favor of desegregation and equal education, claimed that black activists were simply being over sensitive. Opponents of Little Black Sambo in Braithwaite’s case were silenced in the Board of Education hearing and told that the Board was tired of them “making political issues out of racial issues” (Braithwaite, 1958, p. 20).

In the 1960s and 70s, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. The fight which had started with the desegregation of public schools now shifted towards ensuring the quality of education and educational materials in those schools. Pushback against the use of Little Black Sambo in schools increased and with the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) the publication was removed from schools and libraries across the country. At the same time, the Black Arts Movement was taking shape, providing young African American children with affirming African American literature. Books like Sonia Sanchez’ It’s a New Day: Poetry for Young Brothas and Sistas and Langston Hughes The Dream Keeper and Other Poems took the place of the racist caricatures that traditionally filled the shelves of public schools.

Looking for a loophole that would allow them to continue producing such a popular book, many publishers of the book commissioned illustrations which would set the story in India rather than Africa or the American South. In the 1970s, a previous version of Little Black Sambo, illustrated by Eulalie in the 1920s was altered to depict Sambo’s mother, Black Mumbo as an Indian woman, now called Mama Sari. In 1971, Peter Pan Records published Little Brave Sambo which depicted Sambo as a red-headed, freckled, white child. Sambo spent the next 20 years on and off the shelves of schools and libraries, experiencing a brief resurgence during the 1990s.

Sambo Today

There have been numerous retellings of Sambo in the 100+ years of its existence. Bannerman herself wrote various offshoots of the story including The Story of Little Black Mingo and The Story of Sambo and the Twins. In an open effort to address the racist controversy surrounding the Sambo, Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney produced Sam and the Tigers in 1996, a retelling of the Sambo story set in a fantasy world which attempts to “reclaim a cultural figure” and “dehistorize the text” (Susina, 2011, p. 243). In the same year, Fred Marcellino resituated Bannerman’s original text in India in his illustrated book The Story of Babaji.

The stories above attempt to address the Bannerman controversy head-on. Despite the long history of this controversy, books with similar tone-deaf subject matter and depictions continue to surface. In 2016, Scholastic published A Birthday Cake for George Washington, written by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. The story tells of George Washington’s “servants” who happily scurry around the kitchen making a birthday cake for their master. Understandably, there has been significant backlash to the story, which distorts the realities of slavery. Scholastic ceased production of the book amidst soon after its publication.

While Little Black Sambo is mostly consigned to the vaults of Special Collections, the story and the controversy that followed have not been forgotten. Generations of young children grew up on the text and many faced ridicule because of it. This, quite understandably, colored their future understandings of the book and their own place in society. Bannerman, Sambo, and his story will continue to live on in infamy. It is a story which should not be forgotten and one that can be used to explore the complexities and consequences of racism.

 

 

Resources

Bader, B. (1996). Sambo, Babaji, and Sam. The Horn Book Magazine,72(5), 536.

Bannerman, H. (1899). The story of Little Black Sambo. Lippincott.

Bannerman, H., & James Nisbet Co. (1900). The story of Little Black Mingo (2nd ed.). London: James Nisbet 

Bannerman, H. (1936). The story of Sambo and the twins. Philadelphia; New York: J.B. Lippincott Company.

Bannerman, H., & Marcellino, Fred. (1996). The story of Little Babaji (1st ed.). New York]: HarperCollins.

Barton, P., & Pictus Orbus Press. (1998). The Pictus Orbis® Sambo: Being a publishing history, checklist and price guide for the story of Little Black Sambo. Sun City, Calif.: Pictus Orbis Press.

Braithwaite, D. (1978). The banning of the book "Little Black Sambo" from the Toronto public schools, 1956. Place of publication not identified]: [publisher not identified].

Hay, E. (1981). Sambo Sahib: The Story of Little Black Sambo and Helen Bannerman. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble.

Hughes, L., & Pinkney, J. Brian. (1994). The dream keeper and other poems (Borzoi book). New York: Knopf.

Harris, Violet J. (1990). African American Children's Literature: The First One Hundred Years. Journal of Negro Education,59(4), 540-55.

Lester, J., Bierhorst, Jane Byers, Dial Books for Young Readers, Pinkney, Jerry, & Bannerman, Helen. (1996). Sam and the tigers: A new telling of Little Black Sambo (1st ed.). New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

Martin, M. (1998). "Hey, Who's the Kid with the Green Umbrella?" Re-evaluating the Black-a-Moor and Little Black Sambo. The Lion and the Unicorn,22(2), 147-162.

Mielke, Tammy. (2011). Transforming a Stereotype: Little Black Sambo's American Illustrators. In Crossing Textual Boundaries in International Children's Literature (pp. 242-259). Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars.

Morgan, H. (2011). Over one hundred years of misrepresentation: American Minority Groups in Children's Books. American Educational History Journal,38(1/2), 357-376.

Pilgrim, D. (2012). The Picaninny Caricature. Retrieved from http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/picaninny/

Rollins, C., & National Council of Teachers of English. (1941). We build together; a reader's guide to Negro life and literature for elementary and high school use (Pamphlet publication of the National Council of Teachers of English. no. 2). Chicago, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.

Sanchez, S. (1971). It's a new day : (poems for young brothas and sistuhs) (1st ed.]. ed.). Detroit, Michigan: Broadside Press.

Susina, Jan. (1999). Reviving or Revising Helen Bannerman's The Story of Little Black Sambo: Postcolonial Hero or Signifying Monkey? In Voices of the Other: Children's Literature and the Postcolonial Context (Children's Literature and Culture, pp. 237-52). New York, NY: Garland.

Yuill, P., Bannerman, Helen, & Council on Interracial Books for Children. (1976). Little Black Sambo: A closer look: A history of Helen Bannerman's The story of Little Black Sambo and its popularity/controversy in the United States. New York: Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Educators.

Zimmerman, J. (2004). Brown‐ing the American Textbook: History, Psychology, and the Origins of Modem Multiculturalism. History of Education Quarterly,44(1), 46-69.