Father Goose: His Book - Biases

Biases

Although Baum was comparatively progressive at the time he was writing, he sometimes exploited the racial and ethnic stereotypes common in his era for comic effect. Michael Hearn described Father Goose as

one of the few of the period that tried to reflect the contemporary United States, perhaps the first picture book to recognize the American urban melting pot. Today Baum and Denslow's depictions of African American, Irish, Italian, Chinese, North American Indians, and others are unacceptable, being patronizing stereotypes once common to vaudeville, the Sunday funny papers, and other forms of popular art. However, Father Goose, unlike the conventional children's book of the time, did acknowledge that people of color and other cultures, however offensively portrayed here, were as much a part of American life as those of Anglo-Saxon descent.

For perspective of the issue of tolerance versus bias in Baum's canon, see Daughters of Destiny, Father Goose's Year Book, Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea, Sky Island, and The Woggle-Bug Book.