# 'Peter Pan,' 'Lady and the Tramp,' and 12 More Kids' Classics Marred by Racism **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389 "2014-12-05T08:55:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389/121 "2014-12-09T05:23:47Z")
When my mom taught first grade in the 1950’s and 60’s, one of the books in the room’s library was [Little Black Sambo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Little_Black_Sambo)[sup]\*[/sup]. When she was approached once by the PTA censors and asked to remove it because the darker-skinned kids would be offended, she said, “Offended? It’s their favorite story! How can they relate to lily-white _Dick and Jane?_” * * * - Little Black Sambo was Indian, not African in the original 1899 book, although many editions were illustrated as if it took place in Africa. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389/122 "2014-12-09T12:59:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Other than an entire chapter dedicated to extolling the virtues of the Christian god Eh? There’s an entire chapter devoted to _a_ god, but [not the Christian one](http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/feb/28/writing-britain-summer-exhibition-olympiad). Did you mean some other chapter? ---
**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:** [December 9, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389/123 "2014-12-09T13:03:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Eh? There’s an entire chapter devoted to _a_ god, but [not the Christian one](http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/feb/28/writing-britain-summer-exhibition-olympiad). Did you mean some other chapter? Yeah–as I said earlier, I may just flat-out be misremembering. I think maybe there was something in the chapter about the wayfarer rat that seemed remarkably Christian, but a brief skimming of that chapter led to nothing. Please feel free to dismiss my memory on this subject :). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389/124 "2014-12-09T13:08:34Z")
ETA: Sorry, I was looking at an older version of the thread, I see that above was addressed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389/125 "2014-12-09T13:11:33Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Yup. > > This is Twain in _Letters from Earth_:Notable that Indians were not included in that mocking list. Everyone hates the Jew but the Indians _didn’t even make the list_. It really is very telling. To him, even him, as part of the society of the time, Indians were not part of human nations. > > **The tenor of the times likely really did not include Twain having any real contact with Indians.** Stereotypes are maintained by limited real contact offset by popular images of military men (who Twain admired) going off fighting “Indian Wars”. I’ll believe others who say that his views softened some but he was part of a time that his society condoned ethnic cleansing and genocide against Native peoples without (to the best of my knowledge anyway) any major outcry similar to the Abolitionist movement. Even his contempt for prejudice otherwise was not up to being self-aware of his own there. Not against that. Bolding mine. Depends upon what you mean by “real”. Twain had contact with Indians – “Injun Joe” is based on a real-life counterpart. Unfortunately, I suspect that the people Twain knew were not exemplars of their tribes. Twain had more contact with larger groups when we went out west, but that’s all before he wrote anything quoted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peter-pan-lady-and-the-tramp-and-12-more-kids-classics-marred-by-racism/706389.md?page=6)