Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman, with illustrations by Eulalie, was originally written in 1899. What surely must have been over twenty years ago, I discovered this title in an article about banned children’s books. I checked to see if my library system had a copy in its collection, and was surprised to find we did–one copy only–at a smaller branch. I immediately requested it and never returned it. I made this decision for no other reason than that of the book’s deplorable condition. Eight of its 23 illustrations, as well as both the inside front and back covers were completely scribbled over in pencil or dark blue marker. No book like that should remain on the shelves. I suppose the library staff never even noticed.
The copy I read was published in 1972 yet I cannot say for sure when the book was illustrated. There are copyright dates going back to 1925 so perhaps the illustrations date from that time as well. The most controversial part of the book, when viewed well over a century after it was published, is its title. Sambo is a derogatory term for a black person, and it can also mean a person of mixed race of black and Indian heritage. The latter applies here, as the story involves a young boy with black features and his encounters with tigers. Tigers live on the Indian subcontinent. Sambo’s mother is named Mama Sari and is shown with long hair gathered in a bun at the back and, fittingly, wears a sari, while his father is named Papa Simbu and has features characteristic of sub-Saharan men.
When the book was first published, the illustrations depicted Sambo with exaggerated black features. These offensive caricatures gave fuel to bigots to hurl the name sambo at others, yet the story and Eulalie’s drawings are not racist. Sambo’s race is emphasized using a term of endearment, yet to a different effect than how it’s used in, say, Little Red Riding Hood. In Sambo’s case his race is deemed worthy in and of itself to coddle over, especially in a very young person, and the redundancy of using both black and Sambo places the focus squarely on ethnicity. Look at the subtle racism if a companion book were published with a title such as Little White Maisie. A title like that would never exist, so why would Little Black Sambo be accepted for publication? Why not just publish it as Little [Something Else], and since the protagonist would be depicted on the cover, his ethnicity would be evident.
We meet Sambo as he takes a walk in the jungle and encounters hungry tigers at every turn. Each tiger threatens to eat him. Sambo offers pieces of his attractive wardrobe to the tigers in order to distract them from their longing appetites. Pretty soon Sambo is left in only his underclothes. The tigers argue over who looks the grandest, and after tearing into each other with their claws and teeth, they turn themselves into a frenzied metamorphosis of melted butter. Sambo gets all his clothes back and Papa Simbu gathers the melted butter, which Mama Sari uses to prepare a pancake feast.
The horrible state of the book’s stained pages:
