Dr. Seuss and Racial Passing |
theracetoread: Children’s Literature and Issues of Race
2015-02-11
Karen Sands-O’Connor, Professor
English Department
Buffalo State, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York
 A Star-Belly Sneetch’s worst fear: that we might not be able to tell “them” from “us”. |
Dr. Seuss is one of the most beloved children’s authors in America. He also has a rather mixed record on issues of race and diversity. As a young man, Dr. Seuss wrote and drew for various magazines and college publications. In these, Seuss portrayed Africans and Asians in stereotypical fashion. During World War II, Seuss drew some political cartoons which sympathized with African-Americans and Jewish people and others that accused Japanese-Americans of perpetrating acts of sabotage.
After the war, Seuss’s attitudes changed. These changes in attitude came about, in part, because of his writing commissions. He visited Japan on assignment for Life magazine, and saw the devastation caused by the atomic bombs his country dropped. His writing for children also began to take off. Both of these things resulted in a measurable difference in his public attitudes toward racism…
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Tags: Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches, Theodor Geisel, Theodor Seuss Geisel, theracetoread, theracetoread: Children's Literature and Issues of Race