conuly: (0)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote 2009-11-03 02:57 am (UTC)

Yeah, I know, it has nothing to do with Africa.

As far as why it's considered offensive, I think it's really (mostly) the unfortunate word choice. At the time she wrote her book, Sambo was apparently already an offensive term. What I've read is that she unknowingly took her name from another source, but it was still there, you know? The book didn't help matters.

And the illustrations weren't useful either - it's not that they aren't pretty, it's that they follow what was even at the time a fairly offensive caricature. (Well, there were several sets of illustrations, so I don't suppose it matters.)

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