Faces of Racism

We celebrate the great achievements of African Americans who have contributed to building America. We also remember  the tragedies that African Americans have endured since first being kidnapped and brought to these shores as slaves. We recount each outstanding African-American invention, discovery, and advancement in politics, the arts, medicine and more while never forgetting the enormous trials and tribulations brought on by economic and societal repression. Slavery, Jim Crow Laws, voting disparities, and more, are familiar to us all.  Yet perhaps one of the least recognized, but still monumental offenses occurred every day in homes and classrooms across the country as children of all colors were entertained by books filled with racism and derogatory stereotypes of Black people. Titles like Ten Little Niggers, Little Black Sambo, and Topsy Turvy became household favorites, in a sense brainwashing generations of young children by exposing them to derogatory and racist depictions of Black characters on an ongoing basis, and in doing so, almost compelling all youngsters to believe that watermelon-eating, lazy, stupid and clumsy people are all African Americans could ever become. It is now time to retell this one hundred year history, to shed another light on one of the roots of racism in order to help break the vicious cycle.