Many readers however simply assumed that the story was set in Africa, because if there was ever a tale bubbling over with African and black stereotypes, it was ‘Little Black Sambo’. Some versions shifted the locale to the American South, so it would be more in tune with the racist illustrations of the characters. The Indian setting was retained for some reason, which is why certain versions have the absurd ending of a black boy in the jungles of India, eating pancakes. But as the book became more popular, the original picture of the alleged Tamil boy was replaced with racist caricatures of a black boy. At first, it featured the author’s own alarming illustrations. Over the years, the story has undergone a tremendous number of iterations. There is a repetitive rhythm to the prose which children often find appealing and perhaps most of all, Sambo manages to get his clothes back and outwit a bunch of tigers all without any help from an adult. Kids find it easy to sympathise with Sambo, and the plot is simple, peppered with lots of action that culminates in a satisfying ending. If we put the rather obvious racism aside for a bit, we can see that it actually has all the building blocks needed to make a good children’s story. Today, we are going to take a look at the bizarre history of a racist children’s story called ‘Little Black Sambo’. Three detained over racist insults aimed at Vinicius Jr, four for effigy in Madrid: Spanish police Brazil government protests to Spain ambassador over racist abuse of Vinicius Jr.
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