In school, we learned about slavery and the Civil War, and after that apparently all African-Americans vanished. Everyone the teachers talked about, or showed us in books, was white.
There were no African-Americans on tv, or in movies or comic books. So, sadly, my first exposure to African-American culture came through the Little Brown Koko books.
There were two of them in the house, very old -- I think they originally belonged to my mother when she was a girl -- written by Blanche Seale Hunt, illustrated by Dorothy Wagstaff. The stories were originally published in the magazine Household in the 1930s, and then appeared in book form in the 1940s.
Adjectives abound. Koko doesn't just have a mother, he has a "nice, good, big, ole, fat, black Mammy." He doesn't just eat cake, he eats "nice, good, ole, sweet, moist, dark, chocolate cake with rich, thick, good, ole, creamy, white frosting."
The dialogue and illustrations are bitingly racist.
What characteristics of African-American culture did I learn about, at the age of seven, from Little Brown Koko?
1.Sensuality. A world of vibrant senses, touch, taste, and smell (paragraph after paragraph just to describe food).
2. A shared humanity. Koko's adventures were instantly recognizable: he gets lost; he babysits; he wins a prize; he has to make a speech.
4. Freedom from the nuclear family mandate. Every household in my world was occupied by pairs of men and women, but none of the adults in Little Brown Koko's world had marital partners.
5. Gay romance. Blanche Seale Hunt dedicates the book to a woman: "When I spun dreams, you did not laugh. You always were a kind and caring friend" (I'm paraphrasing). I imagined that the two women lived together, supporting each other, loving each other. Which explains why she didn't depict any heterosexual romances.
Not bad for a series of racist children's books from the 1940s.
Ok, you've seen some pictures of African-American hunks. Are you ready for some of Little Brown Koko? Don't say I didn't warn you:
