Many were shocked by the decision by Seuss’s estate, however, which was announced on Tuesday to coincide with Dr. Seuss’ birthday. In a statement, Dr. Seuss Enterprises said he decided to discontinue these six titles last year, after consulting a panel of experts, including educators, to review his catalog.
Geisel, who died in 1991, is best known for whimsical illustrated books like “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat”, as well as working with ethical and moral imperatives to treat others with kindness and care for the planet, such as “Horton and the Who’s World!” and “The Lorax”.
Scholars have long observed racism in his wartime political cartoons, for which he later apologized indifferently, saying that they were the result of “hasty judgments that every political cartoonist must make”. Others have noted anti-Semitic and Islamophobic overtones in the comics and advertisements he wrote before and during his career as an author of children’s books.
The scrutiny of his illustrated books began to gain momentum more recently. In his 2017 book entitled “The cat in the hat was black?: The hidden racism of children’s literature and the need for different books”, Nel, the professor at Kansas State University, argued that the beloved character was rooted in the minstrel of the black face. In 2019, an academic journal dedicated to the study of diversity in children’s literature published “The cat is out of the bag: orientalism, anti-blackness and white supremacy in children’s books by Dr. Seuss”, an article that examines racism and prejudice in Dr. Seuss. Seuss books.
The authors, Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens, argued that much of Dr. Seuss’s work exhibited racism or prejudice against blacks, Asians, Mexicans, Native Americans and Jews, as well as women and other groups. “Minimizing, erasing or not recognizing Seuss’ racial transgressions throughout his editorial career negates the real historical impact they have had on people of color and the way they continue to influence children’s culture, education and views of people of color, ”they wrote.