Sambo (ethnic slur)

Sambo is considered a derogatory term for an African American, Black, or sometimes a South Asian person. Several origins of the term itself have been proposed, but it gained notoriety as a racial pejorative by association with the children's book The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman, in 1898. It was the story of a boy named Sambo who outwitted a group of hungry tigers.

The setting of Bannerman's story was clearly in India - as can be seen by the presence of tigers and the reference to ghee - and thus it is likely that the "Sambo" character began life as an Indian boy. The book's original illustrations show a Sambo character resembling a golliwog, a European version sometimes viewed as an iconic, racist "darky" stereotypes, which could be taken as a stereotype of African people (the generalization being racially problematic in its own respect, characterized later in this article). As the book made its way across the Atlantic to the US, the illustrations were adapted to the possibly more obviously demeaning stereotype known as blackface in the US. This is likely what led to permanent association of "Sambo" with blackface stereotypes. At this time, the racism of the term was not overt or hostile. But the unconscious racism evident in the blackface stereotype was clear. When the eventual public uproar brought the issue to the attention of the general public, some renounced the use of "Sambo" term, but others embraced it as a racial slur. Thus, the use of "Sambo" by whites as a racist term went from being unintentional to open and derogatory.

The origins of the word "Sambo" itself are not clear. Sometimes spelled "zambo", it is thought by some to be a variant of a Foulah word meaning "uncle" or "second son" and was used to denote a person of mixed African and Arawak (Taino) ancestry in some parts of the Caribbean; "zambo" is still the Spanish word for a person of mixed African and Native American descent. Examples of "Sambo" as a common slave name can be found as far back as the 18th century. In Thackeray's novel, Vanity Fair, the black servant of the Sedley family from Chapter One, is called Sambo. Instances of it being used as a stereotypical name for African Americans can be found as early as the US Civil War. Thus, the generalization problem - Bannerman, a Scot living in India, gave an Indian character a name associated, in the US, with African slaves. The name does not seem to have acquired the intentional, open racist connotation until the first half of the 20th century - possibly in defiance of protests made by African Americans.

Later, the book was renamed The Story of Little Babaji, and the blackface caricatures replaced with illustrations that reflected the character's Indian origins in a non-marginalizing manner.

The once-popular "Sambo's" restaurant chain used the Helen Bannerman images to promote and decorate their restaurants although it was named after the chain's co-owners, Samuel Battistone and Newell Bohnett. See Sambo's article for more details.

In American animation in the 1930s and 1940s, the use of "Sambo" imagery was common in all the major animation houses. The most popular use of this imagery was the aftermath of a character's face after being blown up with an explosive. The scenes which show such imagery have either been cut from their respective cartoons, or the cartoons have been banned altogether.

In modern Britain the term "Sambo" is only used offensively . Formerly, it had the technical meaning of a person having a mixture of black and white ancestry, more black than white (contrast with Mulatto, Quadroon, Octoroon, etc.).

A public service announcement for foreigners in Tokyo on surviving an earthquake. The drawing of the black man is of the "Sambo" variety

In Japan, the "Sambo" depiction of people of African ancestry is still used in newspaper cartoons, manga, video games, anime, and public service announcements [1]. In the popular manga and anime Dragonball Z, the character known as Mr. Popo is an overweight black genie with absurdly pouty red lips. The popular video game/anime series Pokémon has a character named Jynx with similar features. The Playstation Portable game, Loco Roco, has antagonists known as the Moja Troop which display features of this archetype.

Dragonball Z's Mr. Popo, a "Sambo" depiction of the only black character in the series

Reference

Boskin, Joseph. Sambo. 1986. New York: Oxford University PressGoings, Kenneth: Mammy and Uncle Mose: Black Collectibles and American Stereotyping. 1994. Bloomington: Indiana University Press ISBN 0253325927

External links

e-texts of The Story of Little Black Sambo:
*HTML version with the illustrations
*Plain text version with no illustrations (Project Gutenberg edition)