Little Black Sambo

The Story of Little Black Sambo is a children's book written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman, and first published by Grant Richards in October 1899 as one in a series of small-format books called The Dumpy Books for Children. The story was a children's favorite for more than half a century but would become a victim of allegations of racism in the mid-20th century. Critics of the time observed that Bannerman presents one of the first black heroes in children's literature and regarded the book as positively portraying black characters in both the text and pictures, especially in comparison to the more negative books of that era that depicted blacks as simple and uncivilized. Both text and illustrations have undergone considerable revision since.