Little Black Sambo

"Once upon a time there was an English lady in India, where black children abound and tigers are everyday affairs, who had two little girls. To amuse these little girls she used now and then to invent stories..."

-Preface, 1900 edition

This is how author and illustrator Helen Bannerman explains the origin of her tale The Story of Little Black Sambo. In the story, the boy Sambo is outfitted with clothing and accessories by his mother Mumbo and father Jumbo. Entering the jungle, tigers agree to take Sambo's possessions in exchange for not eating him. When the tigers see each other, they fight to determine who is the grandest in there purloined finery. Biting each others tails, they run in circles until they, naturally melt into ghe butter (this is India, after all) and Sambo retrieves his clothing.  Father collects the butter, mother makes pancakes, and Sambo eats the lot.

It is not hard to see the overt and subversive racism in Little Black Sambo. In the original illustrations Sambo and his family are caricatures of Southern India or Tamil and in a later 1927 American edition the illustrations of Frank Dobias depict the characters in Black Face, with white eyes and large, ruby-red lips. While the story's structure is certainly common, many folk tales of outsmarting anthropomorphic animals for reward are told around the world, it is the depiction and characterization of Sambo that are offensive. That the story was intended to entertain little (white) girls clearly illustrates the pervasive and instructive aspects of institutional or cultural racism. The name Sambo, according to wikipedia (for what that is worth) became a racial slur, even referenced in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.  

What happens when a book becomes controversial, is maybe challenged, and then simply disappears? I remember reading Little Black Sambo as a kid and being told there was nothing specifically racist about the story. Now, I think it would be difficult to find the book in circulation in a library or for sale. These two editions came from special collections at the University of Vermont's library. Not that I would ever promote the book as a benchmark of cultural understanding, but have we "banned" the book from others by our mutual agreement not to continue its publication? The story is still  popular enough to have inspired a number of spin-off modern versions, what is our debt to the original? Granted, Little Black Sambo does not specifically call for racism or discrimination, but as a children's book it certainly establishes a basis or foundation for racist views, implying that such depictions are okay.  I suppose my question is, what should our responsibility be towards outdated, offensive, or racist views?  Why are some works treasured, or even justified, while others fade away? Should we ignore it or hold it up as a caution and reminder?  

Up next: As I Lay Dying

Correction: Little Black Sambo does appear on the ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at #90.

Fahrenheit 451, #72

For the first book in a series about banned books, why not start with the penultimate book about book censorship? For a cautionary taste of a dystopian future, Fahrenheit 451 remains the go-to book for English teachers, sci-fi junkies, and Francois Truffaut. Since its publication in 1953, the book has ironically been cut and censored by editors hoping to remove swear words when including the text in school textbook readers. The book is even #72 on the American Library Association list of top 100 banned or challenged books of 2000-2007.  So when the book was chosen for the National Endowment of the Arts The Big Read, I had to move it to the top of the list of books to read. The Big Read, I suppose, is a federally supported Oprah's Book Club, except that free copies of the book are provided to libraries, schools, and other voluntary participating institutions. I received my free copy care of the Vermont Arts Council.  What better way to begin than with a federally supported/banned book.

I haven't yet decided whether to include plot summaries or spoilers in these posts or not. I hope not to discourage others to read these books for themselves, so for now a brief introduction to the plot and themes will suffice. Fahrenheit 451 follows Guy Montag, a fireman in the speculative future where the populace live hedonistic lives and books are contraband. With fireproof homes, the firemen are employed to burn the remaining caches of books hidden by individuals in defiance of the blanket ban.  Reading itself, it seems, is not banned; newspapers and other text are still commonplace, and Guy's wife Mildred participates in her TV programs with a provided script.  Instead, the ban on books is a suppression of dissent and free-thinking.  Reading the book 56 years after its original publication, I am struck by the similarities between our current society and Bradbury's dystopia.  In the book, living rooms are dominated by multiple wall-size television screens with programs designed to include viewer participation.  How similar to our current home entertainment centers and reality television or YouTube.  In the story, people are rarely without their "seashell" ear radios - comparable to our Ipods, earbuds, or ever present media capabilities on our cell phones.  A future where few people are pedestrians, true to our current suburban society, must have been an uncomfortable prediction in the early 50's.  

Censorship of a book about censorship is a funny thing.  Aside from challenges for language, banning a book for its lesson about the dangers of narrow-minded thinking is insidious and depressing.  The book encourages free-thinking and the development of one's own opinions, even to question the value of the opinion itself. A challenge against the book is a statement of distrust in others to form their own opinions.  While the book's antiestablishment message to couched in terms specific to the speculative future the characters inhabit, it does encourage the reader to engage in critical thinking beyond one's comfort zone, to participate in a phenomenological study of subjective themes and feelings. And any questioning of the status quo would, invariably, come under attack.  

Bradbury himself has a more hardline approach to challenges to his or anyone else's work, regarding any editing, self-censorship, or cultural pressure on the production of an aesthetic work, even critique on behalf of minority or under-represented populations, unacceptable.  

Up next: The Story of Little Black Sambo

Banned!

Welcome to Banned and Burned: Reading Challenged Books in Public. Fascinated by any attempt to restrict information, I decided to read as many banned books as possible, borrowing as many as I can from local libraries. In reading I hope to uncover, whether obvious or not, the subversive or questionable elements these books present to the various organizations who in turn seek to keep anyone else from experiencing. I'll be using a couple of resources to compile my list of banned books: Wikipedia has a list of commonly challenged and banned books and the American Library Association publishes a list of most frequently challenged books and authors each year. Additionally, the Banned Book Resource Guide is published every three years. Using these, I hope to develop a better picture of the books someone doesn't want you to read. I'll post what book I'm reading now if anyone cares to join in. 

Up Next: Fahrenheit 451