Review of "Little Brown Koko Has Fun," by Blanche Seale Hunt

Review of

Little Brown Koko Has Fun, by Blanche Seale Hunt

Two out of five stars

 The only reason I assign two stars to this work is that it demonstrates what was considered acceptable racist content at the time of publication, which was 1945. The author’s work appeared monthly in “Household Magazine” and the hardcopy versions of her work sold over 600,000 copies. The text is some of the most blatantly racist material you will ever see in print for the masses. In this case, it is directed at children.

 To understand the level of racism, I will quote the first paragraph verbatim.

“Little Brown Loko’s nice, big, ole, good, fat, black Mammy went to town one afternoon and left him at home to keep the chickens scared out of the flower-beds. But before she left she took one of her big, fat, black fingers under Little Brown Koko’s little, flat, brown nose and said, ‘An’ mind, Little Brown Koko! Don’t you-all skeer up no mischief while I’s gone.’”

 It is amazing that such material was once considered quality reading material for young people, yet it is important to look back and understand some of the more blatant racist expressions if the world is to move forward and continue to put such material in the dustbin of history.