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The above Sam and the Tigers is subtitled “a new telling of Little Black Sambo.” It was published in 1996 by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.

The story it reworks is from Helen Bannermann’s Little Black Sambo, which was first written in 1899. Bannermann was a British woman who lived much of her life in India. The book was published in the United States a year later and with a set of illustrations by Florence White Williams that depicted the action using then popular racist caricatures.

Dashini Jeyathurai, “The Complicated Racial Politics of Little Black Sambo,” Tides Magazine. April 4, 2012.

Chris Klimek, “A Brief History of Banned Book in America.” Smithsonian Magazine. October 5, 2023.

Teachers College, Columbia University. “What you need to know about the book bans sweeping the United States.” September 2023.