![]() ![]() Looking at the historical context in which Sambo became popular, we can see that the story of Sambo came to the US during the era of Jim Crow laws (extending from the mid-1870s to mid-1960s). Bannerman could have drawn an Indian character if that was her intention, and as can be seen from her other illustrations of white characters in her books she was capable of drawing realistic, non-caricatured drawings, for instance in her book s Pat and the Spider (1904) and Little White Squibba (1966). Furthermore, as can be seen in the image, Sambo is very crudely drawn and is obviously a caricature. But as we can see in this image, he dresse s in nice clothes, which is unusual for picaninnies as they are supposed to be comfortable with nudity since they are meant to be savage and uncivilized. ![]() However, unlike a typical picaninny, who is often portrayed in ragged clothes or shown as partially or fully naked (Bernstein 34), this representation of Sambo is more complex in that the story begins with him being presented with beautiful clothes by his parents (however he is in a state of partial nudity for the most part of the rest of the story, as he ends up having to bargain for his life by trading his clothes). In this image consistent with typical representations of a picaninny, Sambo is depicted as having very dark skin, big white eyes, unkempt hair, a broad nose, exaggerated red lips and a wide mouth (playing into stereotypes about gorging on watermelons). ![]()
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