)īraithwaite’s local school trustee was Edna Ryerson who, despite being an avowed Communist, had won every election in Ward 5 since 1944 on the strength of her advocacy for hiring crossing guards and supplying free milk to children. (Above left: Coverage in the Globe and Mail.

“Well, this was it! I was finally confronted with the task of having that story removed from the Toronto Public Schools,” Braithwaite later recalled in a blow-by-blow account of his actions published in 1978. Paul’s father sighed: “I was taunted by this Sambo business when I was small and vividly remember when a big white boy grabbed hold of my neck and rubbed his hand in my hair, saying, ‘Hello da Sambo’.” Paul had already experienced similar taunts and Daniel “Danny” Braithwaite thought the continued acceptance of Sambo in the school environment would encourage further discriminatory attitudes among pupils. During an after-school fundraising event, the children had been shown a colour film version of The Story of Little Black Sambo, Helen Bannerman’s long-beloved children’s book-most likely the 1935 cartoon produced by Ub Iwerks. On December 2, 1955, Paul Braithwaite, a six-year-old student at Essex Street Public School, returned home in a disturbed state. The ensuing debate prompted a furor across North America.

Is The Story of Little Black Sambo, the children’s book written and illustrated by Helen Bannerman in 1899, the fantastical tale of a heroic boy who faces danger courageously, outwitting tigers and being rewarded with pancakes? Or is it a prejudiced story whose caricaturized illustrations of blacks had invidious and hurtful effects on generations of black children? That was the question faced by the Toronto Board of Education in 1955 when a concerned parent objected to Sambo‘s presence in his son’s school.

The black community's campaign to rid Toronto schools of the offensive children's book. Culture Historicist: Banning Little Black Sambo

Sambo and the twins helen bannerman