New Study Claims Dr. Seuss And His Books Are Racist

His work included overwhelmingly white characters, study says

Dr. Seuss is generally known as a beloved author of children’s books. His works have spawned numerous spin-offs, movies and television shows. His plots have been praised as highlighting the absurdity of human nature and calling on people to be better versions of themselves.

But a study published this month claims his work is racist, and it joins a growing chorus of voices deeming the iconic author problematic.

The study is titled “The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss’s Children’s Books.”

It is co-authored by Katie Ishizuka of the The Conscious Kid Library and Ramón Stephens, a PhD student in education at the University of California, San Diego. They describe themselves as “critical race scholar-activists.”

The two interpreted the late author’s works as “dehumanizing and degrading” to “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and people from other marginalized groups (including Jewish people and Muslims),” largely because non-white characters were illustrated in stereotypical fashions, they argued.

They also claimed the books included “white savior” heroes as well as dehumanized characters of color. The study found Seuss (whose real name was Theodore Seuss Geisel) published “anti-Black and anti-Semitic cartoons” and “sexist depictions of women.”

Seuss, who died in 1991 at the age of 87, also controversially showed support for the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II.

The study addresses that by noting:

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