Little Black Sambo and the Makings of 'Dark Iconography'

The Story of Little Black Sambo was written and illustrated by Helen Bannerman and first published in 1899 as one of a series of books in a small format known as The Dumpy Books for Children.  This book appeared about 47 years after Uncle Tom's Cabin, and like its predecessor, was instrumental in ingraining stereotypes into a worldwide psyche.  Sambo (whose mother is named Black Mumbo and father Black Jumbo) is a boy who comes across four tigers and gives up his clothes, shoes and umbrella so he won't be eaten.  The tigers end up chasing each other around a tree until they turn into butter and Sambo is able to retrieve his items and takes the butter home to his mother who uses it to make pancakes.  Today, the term "Sambo" is considered a type of racial slur, and it's part of  "darky iconography", or a common media structure portraying people of African descent as bulgy-eyed, inky skinned, exaggerated lipped, people with very white teeth.  Above are two instances of different approaches to displaying images of an African American family.  The first is from Bannerman's book and reflects use of the term piccaninny as she describes Sambo and places him within the realm of a racial caricature of African American children.  This ever-grinning caricature known as a piccaninny is often the snack for animals (namely alligators), wears tattered clothing, and has an over-sized mouth which calls into account the myth of eating watermelon.  Bannerman takes all of these things and weaves them into a tale that has a very controversial history.  It is notable that Bannerman was from the United Kingdom where darky iconography traditions continued longer than they did in the US, i.e. minstrel performances.  The first image above is from Bannerman's book, while the second is from Sam and the Tigers by Julius Lester illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (1996).  Lester created a modern version of Bannerman's book, changing the child's name to Sam and making him a "hero" of a make-believe land called Sam-sam-sa-mara, where everyone is called "Sam".  This is Sam's family with many obvious different physical characteristics present as compared to Bannerman's Sambo.  They also are not at the table eating which is an important factor for analysis in Bannerman's story.

Below are other images of Sambo (left: Bannerman's character) and Sam (right: Lester's character).  The first two depict Sambo/Sam being given his red coat; the second two are his encounter with a tiger, the one in Bannerman obviously showing fear, while Lester's Sam is actually tricking the tiger in the text; and the last two show a frightened Sambo/Sam who thinks the tiger is going to eat him.  There could be comparisons made to the images with Sambo/Sam behind the tree together as well, although the most important thing is that the portrayals are acutely different in Bannerman's Sambo and Lester's Sam.