Little Black Sambo

James from Japan Probe blogs about the re-curring debate about racism over a doll ‘Little Black Sambo'.

Over at Debito.org, there is a post containing an e-mail from a foreigner in Japan who was shocked to find that a Rainforest Cafe in Chiba Prefecture was selling “Little Black Sambo” dolls... I would guess that Sambo goods are being sold at hundreds of stores throughout Japan, and the children’s picture book is available at almost any bookstore of significant size.

Tags: Little Black Sambo, Little Black Sambo

According to Sam Sloan, the "Story of Little Black Sambo" is rarely told any more, because it is presumed to be racist. He argues that examination of the story shows that it is about India, not Africa. The story refers to "ghe", a type of butter used in India. Also, tigers exist in India but not in Africa. The only thing African about the story is the "mb" sound in Sambo and Jumbo, which is a sound commonly heard in African languages.

In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, Little Black Sambo is mentioned as an example of books that are burned because people find them offensive. Download the free eBook: Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman. Was Bannerman's Little Black Sambo racist? Here's a quote:

Little Black Sambo was again popular by the mid-1990s. Its recent popularity is a result of many factors, including a white backlash against perceived political correctness. This is evident in internet discussions. Americans, Black and White, are rereading the original book (and some of the unauthorized reprints). There is agreement that Bannerman's book is entertaining. However, there is little agreement regarding whether it is racist. White readers tend to focus on Bannerman's non-racist intentions and the unfairness of judging yesterday's "classics" by today's standards of racial equality. Blacks find the book's title and the illustrations offensive. Most of the debate centers on Bannerman's version; there is no debating the racism explicit in later editions of the book produced by other writers and publishers.[Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology, Ferris State University]

A cartoon version of the Little Black Sambo story was produced in 1935 as part of Ub Iwerks' ComiColor series. Audio from this was sampled by Public Enemy and used on their Fear of a Black Planet record.
YouTube - Little Black Sambo - Banned Cartoons
Little Black Sambo dolls on sale at Rainforest Cafe, next to Tokyo Disneyland.

A popular U.S. restaurant chain of the 1960s and 1970s, Sambo's, borrowed characters from the book (including Sambo and the tigers) for promotional purposes, although the Sambo name was originally a combination of the founders' nicknames: Sam (Sam Battistone) and Bo (Newell Bohnett). Nonetheless, the controversy about the book led to accusations of racism that contributed to the 1,117-restaurant chain's demise in the early 1980s. Images inspired by the book (now considered by some racially insensitive) were common interior decorations in the restaurants. Though portions of the original chain re-named themselves "No Place Like Sam's" to try to forestall closure, all but the original restaurant in Santa Barbara closed by 1982.

WikiPedia says the original restaurant in Santa Barbara is still open and operating under the name "Sambo's"

Other Keyboards:
Race Matters: British Identity
Racism and Antisemitism: A Consideration

See also:

• List of banned books
• A Zambo is a person with Black and Amerindian ancestry.
• Political correctness in Japan

A little off-topic but related in principle: Christian groups are up in arms over a new children's film starring Nicole Kidman and based on an award-winning novel by British author Philip Pullman, accusing it of being anti-religious. "The Golden Compass" is the film version of "The Northern Lights," the first book in Pullman's "Dark Materials" fantasy trilogy aimed at teenage readers.The books by confirmed agnostic Pullman trace the fate of a young girl, Lyra, as she becomes drawn into an apocalyptic battle of good against evil, meeting a host of strange characters along the way including a polar bear, voiced in the film by Ian McKellan.

Evil in Pullman's books is represented by the church, called the Magisterium, whose acolytes kidnap orphans across England to subject them to horrible experiments in the frozen northern wastelands. (more)