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FREEDOMWAYS                 SECOND QUARTER 1973

manner.14 Going to great lengths to describe the "five races of man," these texts give one insight into the stark contrasts of the white race and the black race. Publishers usually pictured, in the role of the white race, a dignified looking gentleman, dressed in his Sunday best, with a stiff moustache, a stiff collar, and a smooth lapel. Usually, he was an "Emersonian" figure of a man, shown seated in his library, with shelves of books behind him, a globe and a telephone close at hand, and a small child at his side obviously imbibing his kindly and patient wisdom. In another text where the preferred stress is on beauty rather than brains, the representative of the white race was the head of a Greek statue with its classic features in frozen profile. Its caption added with "objective grace": The White Race-An Ideal Head.

In contrast, the pictorial and verbal representation of the black man in these same texts portrayed him at a most primitive level. A comparative figure to the "Emersonian" figure in his study might have been an African Chief in ceremonial attire. Instead, the African appears in a most prehistoric figure of a man-naked, primeval, carrying club and shield. In another example of this style of contrast, one text classifies the states of man as "savage" (all black or red people), "barbarous" (chiefly brown), "half-civilized" (almost wholly yellow), and "civilized" (almost all belonging to the white race).

Concerning the influence of society and its contribution to the development of negative feelings in black children, it is of major importance to suggest possible solutions to the existing problem. It is important to say that the recognition, understanding, and acknowledgment of these numerous influences are in themselves a necessary beginning toward possible solutions. One positive way in the direction of eradicating the effects of racism on the personality development of black children is by the creation of relevant black literature.

Jacquelyn Sanders in an essay, "The Psychological Significance of Children's Literature," suggests an important function of literature and one that is crucial with regard to the current needs of black children. She feels that children's literature can be of the greatest value when it is created in relationship to the outstanding characteristics and needs of children. In this respect she says:

"As the child grows, he strives to master both the outer world that is continually expanding and an inner world of emotions

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