Did you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books when you were little? Of the three or four of you that read this, I'm guessing two of you did not and one or two of you did. Anyway, I was reading "Little Town on the Prairie" and there's a whole section that didn't even register in my mind as a little kid (which is sort of good because I was innocent but also sort of bad because it can also be thought of as ignorant). There's a point in the book where the town has these gatherings for fun and entertainment and one night, some of the men in the town put on a minstrel show. I didn't know what this was as a little kid and I actually only learned about it last year. I don't know why I was shocked because that book was written in the early 1900s, very recently after the emancipation proclamation and way before the Civil Rights movement or even the Harlem Renaissance, so (even though it doesn't excuse it at all) it was an accepted part of their culture. I'm up late (obviously) and when I stay up this late, I usually read, so that's what I was reading and I totally lost respect for her and for her dad. I used to love her dad because he was portrayed as this kind and gentle and wise man and in a lot of ways he reminded me of my dad and I also liked her mom, but I was reading it awhile ago too and her mom was racist towards native americans. I didn't really know how to feel after I reread it. I mean, it gives a pretty neat glimpse into what pioneer life was like, but it definitely doesn't condemn racism since racism wasn't condemnable in that culture/ time period. I don't know.
But...anyway I was reading that and I thought it would be neat if I wrote some stuff about my childhood so I could remember it. =)
Comments (1)
Racists suck.