How many of you read Dr.Seuss as a child and believed the big black cat in the hat could do no wrong? Well it looks like before he became the children’s hero he may have had a bit of a checkered past!
Theodor Geisel, the man behind the making of Dr. Seuss, was a rather racial artist back in the day and had contributed some of those works to a conservative satirical magazine called Judge. The upsetting thing is now one of those works are up for auction for a minimum payment of $20k!
According to CNN, the disturbing piece dating back to 1929, is a hand-drawn, hand-painted illustration entitled “Cross-Section of The World’s Most Prosperous Department Store,” which depicts “three panels which show men at a department store picking out various merchandise to make their lives more difficult.” In the image caricatures are featured in blackface and bright big red lips as property for sale.
It is reported that Geisel has a slew of “supremacist tendencies” in his images. He is also responsible for anti-Japanese cartoons during World War II also.
However, over time Dr. Seuss regretted some of his depictions and tried to right his wrongs. In his popular “Horton Hears A Who” story of 1954, Dr. Seuss dedicated the book to friend saying “My Great Friend, Mitsugi Nakamura of Kyoto, Japan,” in efforts to remedy his anti-Japanese sentiments. It is also reported that “The Lorax” was created as a “largely pro-environmental allegory that reflected his eventual anti-Nixon, liberal Democratic politics.”
Now knowing this does this make you think differently about letting your child read Dr. Seuss ? Let’s chat below!!
Sources Sited: CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/living/feat-racist-dr-seuss-drawing/
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