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Seuss Estate Discontinues Six Books Thanks to Racist Imagery

Published on 61 Comments on Seuss Estate Discontinues Six Books Thanks to Racist Imagery

The estate of Dr. Seuss has decided to remove six of his books from publication because of racist imagery. Philip Bump comments on a gift of Seuss books that his son received a few months ago:

One of the books he was sent was Dr. Seuss's “If I Ran the Zoo,” a book I had as a kid and that I remembered fondly. In it, a young boy imagines what he'd do with the local zoo were he in charge. It's Seuss, so the boy's conjurings are wild, weird creatures whose names rhyme with their points of origin.

I sat down to read it with Thomas and rambled along in rhythm. Then I turned the page to the “African island of Yerka” on which lived the Tufted Mazurka. In Seuss’s drawing, the bird-thing is perched on a pole being held by two caricatures of African men that are so obviously and immediately racist that it was almost breathtaking. It would be like watching an interview with Tom Hanks in which he suddenly started casually dropping racial slurs, a grotesque act accentuated by astonishment at the source. This was Dr. Seuss, the benchmark for authors of children’s books! And here are the racist caricatures he drew.

This is unsurprising given that the book was written in 1950, when this kind of imagery was unexceptional. But times change and no one wants their young kids reading and seeing this kind of stuff anymore. Naturally conservatives will yell about Seuss being "canceled" due to precious liberal sensitivities, but who cares? The Seuss estate is doing what's right, and there are loads of other Dr. Seuss books still available.

But here's what I don't get. Why not just remove this page from the book? If I Ran the Zoo isn't a narrative, it's a series of disconnected drawings. Removing one would do it no harm.

Or, for that matter, why not get someone to redraw the African pole bearers? It would be a pretty minor tweak.

If we were talking about Tolstoy or Faulkner, nobody would dare suggest such a thing. But this is Dr. Seuss. Creative integrity is just not that big a deal in a book of cartoons aimed at five-year-olds. Is it?

But I suppose the estate considered all these possibilities and decided against them. It's not as if this depletes the world of children's books, but it's still too bad. If I Ran the Zoo was a pretty good book. Not as good as On Beyond Zebra, maybe, but still pretty good.

61 thoughts on “Seuss Estate Discontinues Six Books Thanks to Racist Imagery”

    1. clairence

      Since the owners of the Seuss collection are the ones making this depublishing decision, I wouldn't think there would be copyright issues if they wanted to make a change.

  2. mudwall jackson

    "Or, for that matter, why not get someone to redraw the African pole bearers? It would be a pretty minor tweak."

    bingo! easy fix.

    2. Uncle Cholmondeley

      Thanks for posting this link. Yikes, there is a lot of guilt by association going on in this paper. I gave up after the section on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, which describes the troublesome substance as "ink" and leads the reader to believe the color of the "ink" is black (it isn't).

  4. Atticus

    I'm sure some of you will call me racist for this question, but...why is the drawing racist? Because the pole bearers are black? If you're drawing characters that are supposed to be from Africa wouldn't it be natural for them to be black?

    I don't think liberals understand how ridiculous this seems to most people.

    1. jte21

      Um, if you're under the impression that the characters just being colored black is the problem, then I don't know what to tell you...

        1. KawSunflower

          In the case of this particular commenter, explaining it wouldn't work; he knows why the drawings are unacceptable, & it has nothing to do with mere color.

          He might see one of the old ornaments - "lawn jockeys?) used to hitch horses to & pretend not to see the racism.

          Funny how the far right folks tend to have no problem at all with canceling moderates & liberals, often calling them socialists, communists & childish slurs such as " libtard", while professing the belief that only those on the left "cancel" rightwing people.

          And then there are the fans of using guns, pipe bombs & other weapons more dangerous than rhetoric to cancel others & their rights.

          1. Atticus

            You don't know anything about me. If you are familiar with my comments you would know that I never support violence and am far from an extremist. And I would never use the term "libtard". I enjoy constructive, respectful political discussions. Not vitriol and divisiveness. Also, as the husband of a special education teacher, I find it reprehensible whenever any form of "retard" is used in a mocking or derogatory manner.

      2. Atticus

        Because of the headdresses and the skirts? I'm not an expert on African culture but didn't rural African natives wear such things? Especially 70 years ago when this was written?

        My grandfather was stationed in Guinea during WWII. He showed me some photos during his time there including some of the natives. For lack of a better description, they looked like the the native headhunter that would make periodic appearances on Gilligan's Island. I'm sure if a silly children's book were made at the time that took place in Guinea it would have included illustrations of someone in that type of dress.

        1. realrobmac

          It's the way the faces and body shapes are drawn in a way that makes them look like apes, but you of course know that. Read up on racist caricatures if somehow you are unfamiliar with the concept.

          2. Atticus

            Ok, I rescind my last comment about them not resembling apes. The picture was very small at first and in looking at it for a while it never crossed my mind that they resembles apes. But I just opened it in a new tab so the picture was much larger and I do see the ape-like resemblance.

        2. KawSunflower

          I do know about you from your previous posts on MoJo (& yet previously offered information to you about how to access comment history!) - you're welcome!

          Kindly note that nowhere did I specify that you are one of those who have supported violence or have used "libtard," but you do tend to disregard others' sensibilities, whether pretending not to understand or genuinely not comprehending.

          The overall impression is that you have no problem with obviously racist caricatures. Whether or not a particular style of clothing is realistic is not the issue - the drawings that are "comical" are not amusing but depict human beings in a deliberately unrealistic way that appears demeaning to me & to some others, but you don't agree. I'd bet that you would if your heritage was the one being shown.

          Couldn't reply directly under your response to me due to the peculiarities of the WP system.

    2. bebopman

      I admit I’m not familiar with this particular book. Tell me: are those pole bearers the only images of black people that young readers would see in that book?

      1. iamr4man

        I have it on Japanese laserdisc. If you want the entire story of that movie you can read Who’s Afraid Of Song Of The South by Jim Korkis. It might interest you that Floyd Norman, the first black animator at Disney Studio, is a fan of the movie.

      2. iamr4man

        I have it on Japanese laserdisc. If you want the entire story of that movie you can read Who’s Afraid Of Song Of The South by Jim Korkis. It might interest you that Floyd Norman, the first black animator at Disney Studio, is a fan of the movie.

  6. jte21

    My first thought when hearing this story was "Wtf? Dr. Seuss books racist? Now this is going too far...." and then I saw some of the contested illustrations. Damn. It's pretty racist. Some antisemitic stuff, too, which is surprising for, well, someone named Theodore Seuss Geisel. Now, as Kevin points out, none of this was considered particularly offensive when Seuss wrote it, but yeah, I think the estate made the right call.

    1. Boronx

      He's also the guy who wrote The Sneetches, an anti-racism book. People are complicated in their failings and virtues.

      1. lawnorder

        Except that the guy who took all the sneetches money in the process of teaching the anti-racism lesson was, of course, an obvious Scotsman, Sylvester McMonkey McBean. Clearly an ethnic slur. -)

    2. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

      How much is my c. 2007 JUNO poster with lead performer Elliott Page identified as Ellen Page worth?

      (I do feel slightly like me continuing to hang it in my apartment is kind of a hate crime.)

          1. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

            Thanks.

            Mine is lightly worn since I never framed nor laminated it, & more faded from sun exposure than anything, but it has to be a great curio, all the same.

  8. Joel

    "Naturally conservatives will yell about Seuss being "canceled" due to precious liberal sensitivities . . . "

    Can we stop calling them "conservatives?" They're right-wing extremists.

  9. Summerof73

    Caricatures are definitely taken differently today than previously. Literally, the text includes something like 'eyes with a slant'. Caricatures of Persians, Muslims and Russians as well.

    These books don't translate very well to a classroom where many different ethnicities will be present versus a largely white only readership. My kid is not in Kevin Drum's kindergarten class. 🙂

  10. realrobmac

    They could definitely change the books if they wanted to. They've done this before with Seuss books and for much less important reasons. I remember reading Dr. Suess's ABCs to one of my nieces or nephews 20 years ago and noticing that the text was different from what I remembered. They simplified it and made it more repetitive so each letter got the "Big A, little a, what begins with A?" treatment. I felt like they were messing with a classic, but I got over it. Redrawing the racist images and adjusting the text to get rid of racist language is very do-able.

    Someone on CNN pointed out that it hardly seems coincidental that the books they are withdrawing are all lesser titles.

  11. dilbert dogbert

    The Hawaii house we get to stay in has two Dr. Seuss paintings in it. I will have to examine them to see if I can find any racist images!!!

  13. jymmr

    Do the pole-bearers look like monkeys? Of course they do. So much so that, if I'm being honest, if I saw the drawing with no context, that's exactly what I would have thought they were. It would never have occurred to me that they were supposed to be people. It's Dr. Seuss, so animals wearing clothes and doing human-like things wouldn't be out of place. I guess that makes me naive.

  15. Brock

    I don't have any particular attachment to five of the canceled books, but On Beyond Zebra is my favorite. I was puzzled to see it included in the list, and I can only assume that the "problematic" illustration is for the letter Spazz, where the "Nazzim of Bazzim" is depicted wearing some sort of Middle Eastern or Persian garb.

    I certainly won't try to defend that particular illustration in If I Ran the Zoo, but canceling On Beyond Zebra strikes me as an overreaction, and it makes me very sad.

  16. cld

    Is there anything in Dr. Seuss' history that suggests racist caricature was in any way important to him, or was it just cartooning?

    Do we throw out Bing Crosby because of that one move where he appears in black face and later sings 'White' Christmas?

    omg, I'm having a panic.

    1. bebopman

      Yeah, I watch “Holiday Inn” every year around Christmas (mostly because I think co-star Fred Astaire may be the greatest all-around entertainer ever ; love the guy) but I probably wouldn’t watch it with black friends.

    2. peterlorre

      Actually, there is a wide body of his WWII political cartoons that is extremely dicey in its depictions of the Japanese (though I'm sure the depictions were right in the mainstream at the time). They are available in book form in the collection "Dr. Seuss Goes To War".

      That said, if you read the text of the cartoons and think about the totality of the works as a body, I'm inclined to say that Dr. Seuss' political sensibilities come across extremely well to someone reading it today. It's clear that he is on the right side of most or all of the issues that he writes about, the unfortunate design choices notwithstanding.

      Also, The Sleep Book is objectively the best Dr. Seuss book, followed closely by McElligott's Pool and On Beyond Zebra.

      1. peterlorre

        WTF, McElligott's Pool is out too?

        I just flipped through my copy, and I'll tell you the evidence for that one has gotta be thin.

    3. HokieAnnie

      There's lots of reasons to throw out Bing Crosby actually, apparently he was an awful abusive parent according to his children.

      1. realrobmac

        Word on the street is that that is greatly exaggerated. He spanked his kids in the 1940s. Gimmee a break.

      2. cld

        That's now become an urban legend. His son wrote a book to that effect, but his siblings immediately came out and said he made it all up and he later confessed that he had.

        They also said he, the son, suffered some effect of fetal alcohol syndrome, which they credit for his various erratic behaviors.

        Everyone else who knew Crosby has said he was just as he seemed to be.

    4. Jasper_in_Boston

      ^^^Is there anything in Dr. Seuss' history that suggests racist caricature was in any way important to him, or was it just cartooning?^^^

      Weren't these books mostly written in the 1950s or early 60s? I bet 90% of whites were utterly oblivious to the issue of "racist caricaturing" in those days (I wasn't around then, so I could be wrong, but that's my impression).

      Ignorance isn't an excuse. But it is an explanation.

      1. cld

        It's like complaining that people took so long to travel 200 years ago because cars are so much faster.

        People so offended by this have no sense of context on the one hand, seeming to think the book was made yesterday, and no sense of humor on the other. How do you caricature an ethnic group without actual caricature? Without caricature you don't have the cartoon and then the only art that's acceptable will be Soviet Realism.

  20. Jasper_in_Boston

    I'm sure a lot of us have been thinking the same thing. My guess? They'll eventually tweak the illustrations, but insiders have hoovered up copies of the offending books, which will now become valuable collectors items.

    (I'm only half joking).

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