10 Classic Children's Books That Are Actually Racist

8. Tintin In The Congo

The globetrotting adventures of Herge's intrepid reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy have long been standard fare for both getting kids to read and as a gateway into comics. The Belgian youngster's exploits have reached massive audiences, resulting in a cartoon series and at least one massive Hollywood blockbuster movie. Herge's stories helped to debunk racist stereotypes about Asians in the mid-20th century, which is why our next entry is a little baffling... Tintin In The Congo sees the titular hero journeying to Central Africa and getting embroiled in tribal warfare and a diamond smuggling ring orchestrated by Al Capone (naturally). Herge's depictions of the natives are nothing short of odious, his big-lipped, wide-eyed simpletons hailing the white reporter as having special powers: "White mister is big juju!" exclaims one thoroughly impressed woman after Tintin 'heals' her sick husband with a drop of quinine. The backwards attitudes present in the book were symptoms of the European colonial mindset Herge (and most of his countrymen) possessed at the time of the book's original publication in 1931, and wasn't intended to disparage the Congolese, who were under Belgian rule. That said, his condescending portrayal of the indigenous people as dumb and shiftless can hardly be seen as a positive one.