Warning: These Classic Books Have Major Racial Stereotypes

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

In its most basic form, the plot of Roald Dahl’s well-known children’s book takes readers on a journey through a zany candy factory. Sounds sweet, right? Maybe not. In Dahl’s original 1964 plot—two movie adaptations have since followed suit—the Oompa Loompas were not orange with green hair. Instead, they were described as black pygmies “from the very deepest and darkest part of the African jungle where no white man had been before.” It wasn’t until after readers decried the quite obvious slavery undertones of the Oompa Loompas, that later versions of the text remixed their skin color from black to white (which then turned to orange and green in the 1971 film).

The Secret Garden 

There’s no denying the fact that Frances Hodgson Burnett’s early 20th century novel about an English girl (Mary) who is forced to move back to her green and picturesque hometown after her parents die in India, is full of some good moral lessons (think: caring for others as they have cared for you). Some of the dialogue, however, may furrow your feathers. Example: Mary meets a servant girl named Martha, who thought Mary would be black (coming from India and all). Stereotypical, yes. But, wait—it gets worse. Mary replies to Martha by saying, “blacks are not people.” Double yikes!

Doctor Dolittle 

Before it was an Eddie Murphy or Robert Downey Jr. film adaptation, Dr. DoLittle was a popular kid’s book from the 1950s. The plot? A doctor realizes he can chat with animals. One part of the book, though, that you won't see in the modern flicks are when the doctor meets an African prince who wants to marry a white princess. Instead of his blessings, the doctor bleaches the prince’s skin so that he can ac

Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's famous story about two runaways—one trying to get away from his dad; the other trying to get away from slavery—may not have read as ghastly when it was first published in 1885; remember, slavery wasn't completely abolished until 1865, with plenty of holdouts in the early years. But in today's readings the snippets of racism found in this classic tale—the 'N' word is used over 200 times (yes, 200!) can make for a rather uncomfortable group reading. So much so, that in 2019  New Jersey lawyers requested that Huck Finn be banned in school districts across the state.  

The Little House on the Prairie Books 

Laura Ingalls Wilder's world-famous series that follows the 19th-century pioneer family has been around for ages. In a bit of irony, many American schools have blocked the books due to the racist language. Native Americans are consistently demonized, minstrel shows are performed, and Black people are referred to as “darkies.”

Sherlock Holmes 

We know what you’re thinking. Sherlock Holmes? And Watson?! Where’s the racism? If you’re thinking of the recent BBC adaptation of Sherlock, you won’t get too far—pretty much everyone (white, Black, yellow, blue) irritates him. It’s when you go back to Arthur Conan Doyle’s original texts when questionable phrases and pages start to pop up. In “The Adventure of the Three Gables,” for example, Holmes pursues a former slave and then tells him he stinks once he catches up to him. Also, Tonga (a character from “The Sign of the Four”) describes his people from the Andaman Islands as “having large, misshapen heads, small fierce eyes and distorted features…”

Peter Pan 

J.M. Barrie’s story of Peter, the Darling children and the Lost Boys is one part magical and one part outdated. Namely, the treatment of Tiger Lily and the other native Americans is majorly stereotypical—"they carry tomahawks and knives, and their naked bodies gleam with paint and oil. Strung around them are scalps, of boys as well as pirates.”