Little Black Sambo Bibliography
To learn more about Helen Bannerman’s The Story of Little Black Sambo and the larger history of racism in children’s literature, refer to the sources below.
Bader, Barbara. “Sambo, Babaji, and Sam.” The Horn Book Magazine, no. 5, 1996, p. 536.
Barton, Phyllis Settecase. The Pictus Orbis Sambo: Being a Publishing History, Checklist, and Price Guide for the Story of Little Black Sambo. Pictus Orbis Press, 1998.
Bernstein, Robin. Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights. NYU Press, 2011.
Boskin, Joseph. Sambo: The Rise and Demise of an American Jester. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Dinnage, Rosemary. “Taming the Teatime Tigers,” review of Sambo Sahib: The Story of Little Black Sambo and Helen Bannerman by Elizabeth Hay, Times Literary Supplement, 24 July 1981.
Hay, Elizabeth. Sambo Sahib: The Story of Little Black Sambo and Helen Bannerman. Barnes & Noble, 1981.
Harris, Violet J. “African American Children’s Literature: The First One Hundred Years.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 59, no. 4, 1990, pp. 540–555.
Harris, Violet J. “From Little Black Sambo to Popo and Fifina: Arna Bontemps and the Creation of African-American Children’s Literature.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 14 no. 1, 1990, p. 108-127.
Lanes, Selma. Down the Rabbit Hole: Adventures and Misadventures in the Realm of Children’s Literature. Atheneum Publishers, 1971.
Larrick, Nancy. “The All-White World of Children’s Literature.” Saturday Review, vol. September 11, 1965, pp. 63-65.
Martin, Michelle. Brown Gold: Milestones of African-American Children’s Picture Books, 1845-2002. Routledge, 2004.
Martin, Michelle H. “”Hey, Who’s the Kid with the Green Umbrella?” Re-evaluating the Black-a-Moor and Little Black Sambo.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 22 no. 2, 1998, p. 147-162.
Mielke, Tammy. “Transforming a Stereotype: Little Black Sambo’s American Illustrators.” Crossing Textual Boundaries in International Children’s Literature, edited by Lance Weldy, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, pp. 242-259.
Mikkelsen, Nina. “Little Black Sambo Revisited.” Children’s Literature, vol. 29, 2001, p. 260-266.
Nyong’o, Tavia. “Racial Kitsch and Black Performance.” The Yale Journal of Criticism, vol. 15, no. 2, Fall 2002, pp. 371-391.
Sammond, Nicholas. Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation. Duke University Press Books, 2015.
Schiller, Justin. “The Story of Little Black Sambo.” The Book Collector, vol. 23, no. 3, Autumn 1974, pp. 381-387.
Sircar, Sanjay. “The International Case of Little Colourless Babaji, Reracinating, Returning, and Retaining a Classic.” Signal: Approaches to Children’s Books, vol. 90, 1999, pp. 187-211.
Sircar, Sanjay. “Little Brown Sanjay and Little Black Sambo : Childhood Reading, Adult Rereading; Colonial Text and Postcolonial Reception.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 28 no. 1, 2004, p. 131-156.
Spitz, Ellen Handler. Inside Picture Books. Yale University Press, 2000.
Yoffee, Bill. Black Sambo’s Saga: The Story of Little Black Sambo Revisited at Age 98. Bill Yoffee, 1997.
Yuill, Phyllis J. Little Black Sambo: A Closer Look – A History of Helen Bannerman’s The Story Of Little Black Sambo and Its Popularity/Controversy in the United States. The Racism and Sexism Resource Center for Educators, 1976.