"tar baby" in the news

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/4/2011 03:33 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>But Harris's stories were absolutely harmless - or so it seemed to me forty
>years ago. ... Just showing off for a moment: _Uncle Tom's
>Cabin_

I think "Little Black Sambo" has a similar history of criticism to these two.

On the other hand, and although I had perhaps no acquaintance with
Harris's stories as a child, at some point in my aging I did come to
understand "tar baby" as a derogatory term for a Negro child.

Joel

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