Sambo is a racial term for a person with African heritage and, in some countries, also mixed with Native American heritage (see zambo).
Contents |
The word "sambo" probably came into English from the Latin American Spanish word zambo , which in turn may have come from one of three African language sources. Webster's (Third International Dictionary) holds that it may have come from the Kongo word nzambu (monkey). Note, though, that the z of (Latin American) Spanish is pronounced as the English s rather than as the z in the word nzambu. Another source holds that it is a variant of a Foulah word meaning "uncle," or a Hausa word for "second son." The Royal Spanish Academy gives the origin from a Latin word, possibly "valgus" (adj.)[1] or another modern Spanish term. Both of which translate to "bow-legged," but still do not explain how this became a racial term. Zambo is still the Spanish word in Latin America for a person of mixed African and Native American descent.
Examples of "Sambo" as a common slave name can be found as far back as the 18th century. In Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair (serialised from 1847), the black skinned Indian servant of the Sedley family from Chapter One, is called Sambo. Similarly, in Harriet Beecher Stowe's controversial novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), one of Simon Legree's overseers is named Sambo. Instances of it being used as a stereotypical name for African Americans can be found as early as the Civil War. The name does not seem to have acquired the intentional, open racist connotation until the first half of the 20th century — possibly in defiance of protests made by African Americans.
In modern British English, the term "Sambo" is used offensively[2] Formerly, it had the technical meaning of a person having a mixture of black and white ancestry, more black than white — contrast with mulatto, quadroon, octoroon etc.
Sambo is a very common name (used both as a family name and as a first name) in Madagascar and is also the Malagasy word for "boat" , used only for larger boats rather than canoes which are known as lakana. Many slaves were traded out of Madagascar .
Sambo's Grave is the burial site of a young dark skinned cabin boy or slave, on unconsecrated ground in a field near the small village of Sunderland Point, England, near Heysham and Overton, Lancashire. Sunderland Point used to be a port, serving cotton, sugar and slave ships from the West Indies and North America.
The word gained prominence through the children's book Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman, in 1899. It was the story of a boy named Sambo who outwitted a group of hungry tigers. Bannerman also wrote Little Black Mingo, Little Black Quasha, and Little Black Quibba. One recent edition has renamed the book The Story of Little Babaji. In this book, Sambo is the name of a South Indian boy, and the author was not aware of the racial African meaning at the time the book was written.
The once-popular "Sambo's" restaurant chain used the Helen Bannerman images to promote and decorate their restaurants although it was named after the chain's co-owners, Samuel Battistone and Newell Bohnett.[3]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||