Little+Black+Sambo

Title: Little Black Sambo By: Helen Bannerman Description: A boy obtains some new articles of clothing which are later bullied from him by some tigers. The tigers then want the peices of clothing belonging to the other tigers. In this a fight begins amongst the tigers. As a result, they chase each others tail in a circle around a tree until they become butter. Sambo then retreives his clothing and takes the butter home where he and his family eats pancakes with it. Genre: Children's fiction Questionable Situation: The usage of the name Sambo is contended to be a racial slur; characters portray black stereotypes Opinion: Little Black Sambo was said by Langston Hughes to be hurtful to African American children [] According to Goodreads.com, people love the story. They feel like the main character is creative and brave and they love it. They feel like the illustrations are a inappropriate and need to be updated.


 * History of Censorship: ** This book was banned in Toronto public school in 1956. It is also number 90 on the American Library Association’s list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged book: 1990-1999.

[]

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_1999

Intended Audience: Young Children