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Private: Problematic Classics

36 Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman, Illus. by Florence White Williams


Frontispiece: Little Black Sambo

THE
SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

CHICAGO . AKRON, OHIO . NEW YORK

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

Decorative Image

Tiger

Once upon a time there was a little black boy, and his name was Little Black Sambo.
Black Mumbo, who is visually stereotyped as a "mammy" character with a tied kerchief on her head and exaggerated lips.

 

And
his
mother
was
called
Black
Mumbo.

 

And his father was called Black Jumbo.

 

Black Jumbo, who is visually stereotyped in a recumbent position and smoking a pipe, meant to imply a white supremacist idea of laziness, as well as showing the exaggerated white lips evocative of blackface performance.

And Black Mumbo made him a beautiful little Red Coat, and a pair of beautiful little Blue Trousers.

Black Mumbo made him a beautiful little Red Coat. Sambo is shown admiring himself in a mirror, his eyes and lips both exaggerated pale for contrast, a typical visual sterotype.

And Black Jumbo went to the Bazaar and bought him a beautiful Green Umbrella and a lovely little Pair of Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings.

And then wasn’t Little Black Sambo grand?

And then wasn't Little Black Sambo grand?

 

So he put on all his Fine Clothes and went out for a walk in the Jungle.

 

Sambo with his family; all three are visually sterotyped as before, with particular exaggeration of the lips in contrast with the very dark skin.

And by and by he met a Tiger. And the Tiger said to him, “Little Black Sambo, I’m going to eat you up!”

"Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!" The tiger looks at Sambo, who is holding a green umbrella.

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up, and I’ll give you my beautiful little Red Coat.”

Coat

So the Tiger said, “Very well, I won’t eat you this time, but you must give me your beautiful little Red Coat.” So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo’s beautiful little Red Coat, and went away saying,

Now I’m the grandest Tiger in the Jungle.”

 

Tiger wearing the coat.

And Little Black Sambo went on, and by and by he met another Tiger, and it said to him, “Little Black Sambo, I’m going to eat you up!”

Tiger

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up, and I’ll give you my beautiful little Blue Trousers.”

Trousers

 

So the Tiger said, “Very well, I won’t eat you this time, but you must give me your beautiful little Blue Trousers.” So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo’s beautiful little Blue Trousers, and went away saying, “Now I’m the grandest Tiger in the Jungle.”
I'll give you my beautiful little Purple Shoes. Sambo is shown hiding behind his green umbrella while the tiger, in trousers, looks on. Again we see visual sterotyping and exaggeration in the face, particularly the lips, and the culturally stereotyped shoes.

 

And Little Black Sambo went on and by and by he met another Tiger, and it said to him, “Little Black Sambo, I’m going to eat you up!” And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up, and I’ll give you my beautiful little Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings.”
Decorative Image

 

Sambo kneels in a submissive posture, wearing a grass skirt and offering his shoes to the tiger.

But the Tiger said, “What use would your shoes be to me? I’ve got four feet and you’ve got only two.”

The tiger wears shoes on his ears.

“You haven’t got enough shoes for me.” But Little Black Sambo said, “You could wear them on your ears.”

So I could,” said the Tiger, “that’s a very good idea. Give them to me, and I won’t eat you this time.”

So the Tiger got poor Little Black Sambo’s beautiful little Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings, and went away saying, “Now I’m the grandest Tiger in the Jungle.”

Sambo holding his green umbrella to cover himself now that he is without clothes, once again stereotyped with exaggerated features and in a submissive/lesser-than stance compared to the upright tiger.

And by and by Little Black Sambo met another Tiger, and it said to him, “Little Black Sambo, I’m going to eat you up!”

The tiger and Sambo under the green umbrella; here Sambo once again has highly contrasted whites of the eyes as well as lips, both reminiscent of visual stereotypes.

And Little Black Sambo said, “Oh! Please, Mr. Tiger, don’t eat me up and I’ll give you my beautiful Green Umbrella.” But the Tiger said, “How can I carry an umbrella when I need all my paws for walking with?”

Umbrella

 

Tiger holding the umbrella with his tail.

“You could
tie a knot
on your
tail,
and carry
it that way,”
said
Little
Black
Sambo.

 

“So I could,” said the Tiger. “Give it to me and I won’t eat you this time.”

Tiger with the umbrella, with Sambo in a grass skirt behind him.

So he got poor Little Black Sambo’s beautiful Green Umbrella, and went away saying, “Now I‘m the grandest Tiger in the Jungle.”

And poor Little Black Sambo went away crying, because the cruel Tigers had taken all his fine clothes.

Black Sambo went away crying, wearing a grass skirt.

Presently he heard a horrible noise that sounded like “Gr-r-r-r-rrrrrrr,” and it got louder and louder.

“Oh dear!” said Little Black Sambo, “There are all the Tigers coming back to eat me up!

What
shall
I
do?”

So he ran quickly to a palm-tree,

Sambo peeping from behind a tree; once again we see the facial stereotype with exaggerated lips and a comic posture and expression, dehumanizing the character.

 

And peeped round it to see what the matter was.

And there he saw all the Tigers fighting and disputing which of them

was
the
grandest.

And at last they all got so angry that they jumped up and took off all the fine clothes and began to tear each other with their claws and

bite each other
with their
great big
white teeth.

Tiger

And they came, rolling and tumbling, right to the foot of the very tree where Little Black Sambo was hiding, but he jumped quickly in behind the umbrella. And the Tigers all caught hold of each others’ tails.

Sambo peeping from behind a tree to watch the tigers fight; once again we see the facial stereotype with exaggerated lips and a comic posture and expression, dehumanizing the character.

As they wrangled and scrambled, and so they found themselves in a ring around the tree.

Then, when the Tigers were very wee and very far away, Little Black Sambo jumped up and called out,

“Oh! Tigers!
why have
you taken
off all your
nice clothes?
Don’t you
want them
any more?”

Palm Tree

 

But

 

the

 

Tigers

 

only

 

answered

 

“Gr-r-r-rrrrr!”

 

Sambo gathers up the clothes; again, the exaggerated lips, eyes and expression intend to evoke visual stereotypes.

Then Little Black Sambo said, “If you want them, say so, or I’ll take them away.” But the Tigers would not let go of each others’ tails, and so they could only say “Gr-r-r-rrrrrr!”

Sambo puts on his clothes as the tigers fight around the tree.

 

And the Tigers were very, very angry, but still they would not let go of each others’ tails. And they were so angry that they ran round the tree, trying to eat each other up, and they ran faster and faster till they were whirling round so fast that you couldn’t see their legs at all.
Palm Tree

And they still ran faster and faster and faster, till they all just melted away, and then there was nothing left but a great big pool of melted butter (or “ghi” as it is called in India) round the foot of the tree.

Now Black Jumbo was just coming home from his work, with a great big brass pot in his arms, and when he saw what was left of all the Tigers, he said,

“Oh! what lovely melted butter! I’ll take that home to Black Mumbo for her to cook with.”

So he put it all into the great big brass pot, and took it home to Black Mumbo to cook with.

When Black Mumbo saw the melted butter, wasn’t she pleased!

“Now,” said she, “we’ll all have pancakes for supper!”

Sambo's parents smiling over a jar of butter, with a monkey laughing in the foreground; depictions of Black persons as constantly smiling was another common visual stereotype.

So she got flour and eggs and milk and sugar and butter, and she made a huge big plate of most lovely pancakes. And she fried them in the melted butter which the Tigers had made, and they were just as yellow and brown as little Tigers.

And then they all sat down to supper. And Black Mumbo ate Twenty-seven pancakes, and Black Jumbo ate Fifty-five, but Little Black Sambo ate a Hundred and Sixty-nine, because he was so hungry.

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