Scholastic published a children’s book two weeks ago called “A Birthday Cake for George Washington.”
In it, George Washington’s cook slave bakes a cake for his boss master but there’s no more sugar, and the jolly little story is told through the eyes of his daughter. This is why kids don’t know shit about history. They keep reading this crap and taking it as gospel without any historical context. Observe:
She specifically said “books and movies” are evidence that some slaves were happy. Some slave owners hated slavery and bought slaves to protect Black folks. Some slave owners like her family buried slaves under their basement floor because they loved them so much.
What kind of cognitive dissonance tho!!
The book, which depicts Hercules and Delia preparing a cake for Washington, has received more than 100 one-star reviews on Amazon.com. As of Sunday evening, only 12 reviews were positive. The book also set off discussions on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere on social media.
…
“Oh, how George Washington loves his cake!” reads the publisher’s description of the story. “And, oh, how he depends on Hercules, his head chef, to make it for him. Hercules, a slave, takes great pride in baking the president’s cake. But this year there is one problem — they are out of sugar.”
…
In a Scholastic blog post from last week, Ganeshram wrote that the story was based on historical research and meant to honor the slaves’ skill and resourcefulness.
“How could they smile? How could they be anything but unrelentingly miserable?” Ganeshram wrote. “How could they be proud to bake a cake for George Washington? The answers to those questions are complex because human nature is complex. Bizarrely and yes, disturbingly, there were some enslaved people who had a better quality of life than others and ‘close’ relationships with those who enslaved them. But they were smart enough to use those ‘advantages’ to improve their lives.”
(cont. AP)
Hercules felt so content and was so close to George Washington that he escaped to freedom? He didn’t say “Hey George, thinkin about a new career path, so here’s my notice.” He escaped. With definite physical harm and possible death looming over his head if caught. He risked death and torture to get out of his lovely work arrangement with the first President of the United States.
Let’s be absolutely clear: slavery is slavery no matter how well the slave is treated. You are being held against your will to do the bidding of a master who has control over every part of your life. Even if you like to do something, being forced to do it under threat of death makes it a smidge less enjoyable. Obviously, I like to write. If someone told me I had to write X amount of words every day or I’d be whipped, writing is a lot less fun, feel me? There is no way to glamorize slavery, to make it more palatable, or Disney it up to make it cute and fun. Slavery is owning another human being. Point blank and the period. No further discussion is necessary.
But apparently is is necessary because authors like Ramin Ganeshram – a woman who is half black even (!!!!) – are out here making fairy tales out of real folks’ struggle and then adding a few footnotes at the end, like somebody is going to actually receive that.
So we have a generation of kids like Rachel Ann Hogan who’ve been spoonfed this watered down version of history to such an extent that she’s rationalized it in her mind that it was good! that her relatives buried a slave under the basement floor! How do you get to that point!
I’m actually afraid of the dragging Rachel Ann Hogan would have received from my future children. I need to find a way to connect my kids to their heritage and history but without all this Bitch, Please that comes so naturally to me. Like, I want them to keep it real, but still also have friends. Do any of my friends have little militant Black children of school age yet? How are y’all striking a balance? I need to start taking notes because clearly education is getting worse, not better.
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