Little Black Sambo

A children’s book first published in 1899, which has been revised many times as black people have gained more equality over the course of the 20th century. Sambo is an indian boy who meets some tigers while he’s on a walk, and gives them his clothes in exchange for them not eating him. The tigers argue over their new clothes, and melt into butter. The caricature of a black child was hurtful to black children who read it, and as early as 1932 it stopped being recommended to school children. The book has been remade and rebranded by many writers and illustrators, who have changed it to names such as “little kim”, “the boy and the tigers” and “chibikuro sampo” (a Japanese version, which translates to little black sambo).