# Controversial kids coloring book with happy US slaves - Acceptable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579 "2016-01-19T15:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/41 "2016-01-21T05:45:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The book is about him being a slave to George Washington. And it portrays him as being basically kind of okay with that. The book is not about him being a slave to George Washington. It’s about a talented chef baking a cake for someone, with the difficulty of having run out of sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/42 "2016-01-21T07:16:47Z")
And he’s baking a birthday cake for him because… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/43 "2016-01-21T07:41:45Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > And he’s baking a birthday cake for him because… Because he’s a chef, and chefs make cakes. Do you think it’s possible for Hercules to be not just a _slave chef_ but also simply a _chef_? I’m pleased that the Wikipedia article on Hercules is titled “Hercules (chef)” and not “Hercules (slave)”. I know that I would rather be known for my talents and skills rather than the conditions imposed on me, no matter how horrific. ---
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/44 "2016-01-21T08:04:59Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Do you think it’s possible for Hercules to be not just a _slave chef_ but also simply a _chef_? Well, that depends. Was he still a chef after he was no longer a slave? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/45 "2016-01-21T08:37:15Z")
> [@piepiepie](#): > > Well, that depends. Was he still a chef after he was no longer a slave? Very little seems to be known of his whereabouts after his 1801 manumission. I think it’s safe to say that we can’t conclude much about the time from 1797 and 1801 when he was in hiding. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/46 "2016-01-21T08:44:39Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Because he’s a chef, and chefs make cakes. Yeah, but usually they do it in exchange for money, not to avoid being whipped. Leaving that part of his career as a chef out of the story is dishonest and insulting. > [@](#): > > Do you think it’s possible for Hercules to be not just a _slave chef_ but also simply a _chef_? Sure, once he wasn’t a slave any more. This book doesn’t take place after he escaped, though. It takes place during the part of his life where he was someone else property. > [@](#): > > I’m pleased that the Wikipedia article on Hercules is titled “Hercules (chef)” and not “Hercules (slave)”. I know that I would rather be known for my talents and skills rather than the conditions imposed on me, no matter how horrific. Yes, I’m sure you have many valuable personal insights into what it feels like to be a chattel slave. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/47 "2016-01-21T08:48:15Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yeah, but usually they do it in exchange for money, not to avoid being whipped. Leaving that part of his career as a chef out of the story is dishonest and insulting. There is a third option, but I’ll let you figure out what that is. > [@Miller](#): > > Yes, I’m sure you have many valuable personal insights into what it feels like to be a chattel slave. I suppose your personal insights are more valuable than mine? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/48 "2016-01-21T09:47:28Z")
I’ve read the book (I work for a review publication, so I’ve been aware of this book for a while now), and I agree it’s very bad. Though the author, illustrator, and editor are women of color, I found it pretty sickening. I don’t dispute that you can depict a slave as having a moment of happiness. A lot of people brought that up when A Fine Dessert, another picture book, was under debate. But Birthday Cake made it appear that ultimately Hercules and his daughter Delia and the other slaves didn’t have it so bad. There are spreads of Hercules wearing fine clothes and getting to go to the theater–you don’t really get any sense of the horrors of slavery here at all. We see pictures of the slaves down below, cheerfully dancing and skipping about while we see the feet of white folks upstairs. The book ends with Hercules telling Washington it was an honor and a privilege to bake the cake. There’s a real Upstairs/Downstairs vibe to it that’s very disturbing, given that Hercules had no choice. And it’s offensive and just plain inaccurate to suggest that slaves just lived to please their masters, that their lives revolved around those of white people. The author’s note is pretty bad, too. It leads with Washington for a couple paragraphs before getting into Hercules. By the time you get to the end, you read some pretty disturbing things that feel buried: Washington often moved his slaves around to get around laws (for instance if a slave lived in Philadelphia for six months he/she was automatically free, so Washington would move his slaves around to prevent this). Hercules escaped a year later, on/around Washington’s birthday, leaving his daughter, Delia, the narrator of the story, behind. Also, that cute little Delia was not freed upon Washington’s death, b/c she belonged to Martha Washington, who didn’t free her slaves in her will. I do think it’s possible to write a book, even a picture book, about slavery without sugarcoating it. Lorenzo Pace’s Jalani and the Lock, Carole Boston Weatherford’s Freedom in Congo Square, and Don Tate’s Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton and The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch are great examples of picture books that do just that. Freedom in Congo Square focuses on a moment of joy for slaves (those in New Orleans were at one point allowed time off in Congo Square on Sundays). Unlike the slaves depicted in George Washington, their joy/happiness isn’t about making making life easier for their white masters. For those arguing that it’s just one book, I’d make the point that for a lot of folks, it’s part of one larger tradition in which slavery isn’t seen as all that bad. We’ve seen folks on this very board saying that it’s an exaggeration to say that slavery was horrible all the time and that slaves got to go home to a nice house and garden at the end of the day. I don’t know that we need another book reinforcing that narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/49 "2016-01-21T11:01:07Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > For those arguing that it’s just one book, I’d make the point that for a lot of folks, it’s part of one larger tradition in which slavery isn’t seen as all that bad. It’s a fair point. I grew up in CA and saw very little of that. Slavery was pictured as pretty much constant, unending horror. I found it enlightening to learn later that the stories were a little more complicated than that, and more interesting. But I’m also aware that some parts of the country tend to whitewash their history and a book like this would not make a great part of the curriculum. Then again, there’s no shortage of books on the other side of the spectrum, so maybe the problem isn’t in the book availability. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/50 "2016-01-21T11:51:27Z")
**The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore** took this book on the other night. Regular contribute Mike Yard, who is really funny and wears his African American heritage proudly, went at the book hard. He offered an alternative kid’s book, written from a slave’s more-likely POV, called “Massa Gon’ Die” - ending with the big house chained up and on fire, Django-style. It was jarring - so dark (pun unfortunately acknowledged) - but a kid’s book of a slave’s hatred was a powerful contrast with the happy smiley feel of the real book where slaves bake a cake for their owner. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/51 "2016-01-21T11:53:16Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Do you think that every action, every choice in the life of Hercules was ultimately a function of his status as a slave? Or is it possible that sometimes the man acted _as a chef_, and only as a chef? There’s an important excluded middle here. I do think that if someone has essentially abducted you, held you in captivity, and threatened to torture you unless you fulfill their every command–yeah, every action you take is going to be **influenced** by that. Especially every action you take as part of the fulfillment of those commands-backed-by-threats. Is it possible he took joy in his craft? Of course it is. It’s very likely he did. A picture book can show that, AND can show that he resented having to practice his craft in honor of his captor. You’ve said something very strange, with several variations, one of which is: > [@](#): > > He was not simply a slave chef but rather a chef. You don’t make something less simple by **removing** facets. A depiction of him as a chef is definitionally simpler than a depiction of him as an enslaved chef. A call to depict him as both a chef and an enslaved man who abandoned his family in a quest for freedom is a more complex, more rounded picture of the man than what this picture book offers. Suggesting otherwise, suggesting that “slave chef” is a simpler depiction, is completely bizarre. A few years ago, the children’s book [The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Astonishing_Life_of_Octavian_Nothing,_Traitor_to_the_Nation,_Volume_I:_The_Pox_Party) won the National Book Award for its depiction of a young slave. It’s a fascinating, difficult read, and it makes it impossible for me to read a book like A Cake for Washington with sympathy. **Freudian Slit** , thank you for the fuller, informed review! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/52 "2016-01-21T12:42:11Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It’s a fair point. I grew up in CA and saw very little of that. Slavery was pictured as pretty much constant, unending horror. I found it enlightening to learn later that the stories were a little more complicated than that, and more interesting. But I’m also aware that some parts of the country tend to whitewash their history and a book like this would not make a great part of the curriculum. Then again, there’s no shortage of books on the other side of the spectrum, so maybe the problem isn’t in the book availability. It is complicated. But I think a book like A Birthday Cake for GW ignores how complex it is in favor of showing a fun/happy little tale. And there are plenty of fun baking picture books out there. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to make Hercules’s story one of them. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > **Freudian Slit** , thank you for the fuller, informed review! Sure thing! The posts asking whether Hercules couldn’t have taken pleasure in his craft made me think of another picture book, the Caldecott Honor Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave. So I think it’s entirely possible to write a book about a slave that portrays him or her as a dedicated artist or craftsman (note that the word slave comes last in the title). I just don’t think that A Birthday Cake was a successful example. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/53 "2016-01-21T13:04:19Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > We’ve seen folks on this very board saying that it’s an exaggeration to say that slavery was horrible all the time Like you, in the previous paragraph, > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Freedom in Congo Square focuses on a moment of joy for slaves (those in New Orleans were at one point allowed time off in Congo Square on Sundays). Unlike the slaves depicted in George Washington, their joy/happiness isn’t about making making life easier for their white masters. Which is perfectly valid. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/54 "2016-01-21T13:13:39Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Like you, in the previous paragraph, > > Which is perfectly valid. But I don’t know that one moment of joy means that it wasn’t still horrible. Freedom in Congo Square demonstrates that slaves experienced joy in spite of the horror of slavery. I think that’s different from saying, as posters here have, that it wasn’t actually horrifying at all or that freedom was in many ways as bad or worse for African Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/55 "2016-01-21T13:30:08Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Like you, in the previous paragraph I don’t read her that way. THere are two different statements that are being conflated here: 1. The life of an enslaved person is horrible all the time. 2. Slavery is horrible all the time. The first is clearly false. The second is true. A story about a woman kidnapped by a maniac and kept in captivity in a basement for many years might have moments of joy in it. But if the story depicts her joy and respect for her abductor, without a hint of her fear, her desire for freedom, her trauma at the hands of the abductor–I’ll think something important is missing from that story. The life of an abducted person might have moments of joy in it, but the condition of captivity is horrible all the time. ---
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/56 "2016-01-21T13:33:17Z")
On a personal note, I’m glad the book was pulled. My niece is in first grade and loves checking out cookbooks from the library. She recently checked out Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson, and, I don’t want to say I had a good time, but I did enjoy explaining why the little girl’s mother left home and why that was so important at the time. I like that she’s interested in black historical fiction and I don’t mind baking with her either. This GW book would’ve been something she’d be interested in and if I had to read it to her, I would be pissed that it was even available in her school library. We could have a good discussion of why it’s a very bad idea, but I’m not sure this is how I’d want to start discussing slavery with her. I’m also not sure how she would handle such a discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/57 "2016-01-21T13:41:45Z")
> [@piepiepie](#): > > On a personal note, I’m glad the book was pulled. My niece is in first grade and loves checking out cookbooks from the library. She recently checked out Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson, and, I don’t want to say I had a good time, but I did enjoy explaining why the little girl’s mother left home and why that was so important at the time. > > I like that she’s interested in black historical fiction and I don’t mind baking with her either. This GW book would’ve been something she’d be interested in and if I had to read it to her, I would be pissed that it was even available in her school library. We could have a good discussion of why it’s a very bad idea, but I’m not sure this is how I’d want to start discussing slavery with her. I’m also not sure how she would handle such a discussion. Heh–when I was talking about this book with my wife, about how it’s totally possible to write a picture book with a nuanced view of race’s role in history, Coming On Home Soon book is the one I mentioned. Not that I’ll ever read it again–that goddamned kitten makes me blubber like a baby every time–but it’s a fantastic book. Woodson is a genius. ---
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/58 "2016-01-21T13:53:05Z")
It was a very good book. I read it to her as my mom was doing her hair and it was like this very black experience we were having. My niece probably doesn’t care about that aspect of it, but three generations of black (well, my niece is mixed) women discussing a book about three generations black women was pretty cool. I want her to check out more books like that, and not necessarily about black people, but books that at least encourage some thought. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/59 "2016-01-21T13:56:54Z")
Bud, Not Buddy is set in approximately the same time period, and is hilarious without softpedaling anything. It’s a chapter book and well worth a read-aloud. (The Mighty Miss Malone, by the same author, is also excellent, but IMO a lot scarier for kids). ---
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579/60 "2016-01-21T14:04:15Z")
I’ll look for it. I’m open to any other books suggestions, too. I don’t trust my brother or her mother to read to this child. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-kids-coloring-book-with-happy-us-slaves-acceptable/743579.md?page=4)