I read through Little Black Sambo, then took a second pass through it… Something looked familiar. The illustrations of Sambo & his family are somewhat similar to the characters depicted in A Coons Alphabet. A quick Google search confirmed that the two were published around the same time in– Little Black Sambo was published in 1899. However, the authors are a continent apart. The forward in Little Black Sambo notes that this was written by a Brit traveling with two little girls in India.

 

When I saw the illustration below of Black Mumbo I got the impression I’d seen this before. By flipping through A Coons Alphabet I confirmed that there are some similarities. But, how can this be believable? One mom is from India and the other is American. They’re from very different cultures, and the Caucasion storytellers are also from distant parts of the world.

                              

 

The characters in both stories also share qualities of facial structure– they don’t look quite human. Even in Sicar’s essay he notes that the original illustrations were “grotesque” (136). So, now I’m curious… How come these ideas of what a “negro” looks like are so similar? How is this impression in both British & American Caucasian minds so much alike?