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George Washington slave book pulled after criticism
A children's picture book about George Washington and his slaves has been pulled by publishers Scholastic.
A Birthday Cake for George Washington tells the story of Washington's slave Hercules, a cook, and his daughter.
It had been criticised for its images of smiling slaves, and described as being "highly problematic".
Scholastic said in a statement that without more historical context, the book "may give a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves".
The book, telling the story of Hercules and Delia making a cake together, had been released on 5 January. It was met with a barrage of one-star reviews on Amazon, with readers describing it as "disgustingly inaccurate", and one writing: "I can't believe people are celebrating a children's story that depicts happy, joyful slaves."
Scholastic's description of the story had read: "Everyone is buzzing about the president's birthday! Especially George Washington's servants, who scurry around the kitchen preparing to make this the best celebration ever. Oh, how George Washington loves his cake! And, oh, how he depends on Hercules, his head chef, to make it for him. Hercules, a slave, takes great pride in baking the president's cake."
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 25 2016, @03:02PM
Yep - every individual lives in a unique set of circumstances. I've said several times that slavery as practiced in the United States was quite different from slavery in most of the rest of the world, and throughout history. There were few times and places where slaves were looked down on, as subhumans. Outside of the US, a lot of slaves did live miserable lives. A lot of others probably lived happy lives. And, of course, the closer they got to freedom, the happier they would have been.
Initially, blacks and whites alike were brought to America as bond servants, owing 7 years service to either the government, or to their "sponsor". At the end of that bond period, blacks and whites alike were given their freedom, a parcel of land, and a pittance with which to start a farm.
So, yes, until the infamous court case which established that blacks were "slave for life", a lot of slaves probably did find happiness here. After that court case, probably not so much.
To assume that every slave lived miserably each and every day of his life is no less crazy than to assume that slaves were all happy.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.