{"id":146307,"date":"2018-06-25T17:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/laura-ingalls-wilder-removed-from-book-award-over-racist-language-2\/"},"modified":"2018-06-25T17:00:12","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T17:00:12","slug":"laura-ingalls-wilder-removed-from-book-award-over-racist-language-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/laura-ingalls-wilder-removed-from-book-award-over-racist-language-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Laura Ingalls Wilder removed from book award over racist language"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LauraImage copyright Heritage Images\/Getty Images
Image caption A photograph of Wilder in 1887 while she worked as a schoolteacher <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The US Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has removed Laura Ingalls Wilder's name from one of its awards over racist views and language.<\/p>\n

The association had received complaints for years over the Little House on the Prairie author's "anti-Native and anti-Black sentiments in her work".<\/p>\n

The ALSC board voted unanimously on Saturday to remove Wilder's name from the children's literature award.<\/p>\n

The medal will be renamed as the Children's Literature Legacy award.<\/p>\n

The ALSC, a division of the American Library Association, said Wilder's novels and "expressions of stereotypical attitudes" were "inconsistent with ALSC's core values".<\/p>\n

Wilder's children's novels about pioneer life in the American West have been criticised for language that dehumanises indigenous peoples and people of colour.<\/p>\n

Media playback is unsupported on your device
Media captionIs there a single step to address racism in US?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notably, one of the opening chapters of the Little House books described a land with "no people. Only Indians lived there".<\/p>\n

In 1953, the Harper's publishing company decided to change "people" to "settlers", according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

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    But the novels continues to raise concerns due to storylines featuring racist stereotypes and attitudes typical of white Americans of Wilder's era.<\/p>\n

    "The only good Indian is a dead Indian," one character says. At other points in the series, African-American characters are called "darkies".<\/p>\n

    Some fans of the novels say they offer an important historical perspective and should be used as teaching tools for children.<\/p>\n

    The letter from the ALSC board noted the "complexity" of this issue and "the emotion surrounding it". <\/p>\n

    "We acknowledge that Wilder's books not only hold a significant place in the history of children's literature and continue to be read today," the board's recommendation reads. <\/p>\n

    "We also acknowledge that they have been deeply painful to many readers."<\/p>\n

    Image copyright Getty Images
    Image caption Democrats have called for Confederate monuments to be removed from Capitol Hill in Washington <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Born in 1867, Wilder was known for her semi-autobiographical Little House on the Prairie novels - a series published between 1932 and 1943.<\/p>\n

    The novels were adapted to a television series in 1974, running until 1983.<\/p>\n

    E B White and Dr Seuss are both famous recipients of the Wilder Award.<\/p>\n

    The decision to remove Wilder from this literary award is the latest move to revise cultural tributes to racist historical figures in the US.<\/p>\n

    The removal of Confederate memorials by local governments across the country has triggered backlash from some Americans who believe it subverts US history and southern culture.<\/p>\n

    Racial minorities, especially black Americans, feel that the presence of Confederate symbols in public life is offensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Image copyright Heritage Images\/Getty ImagesImage caption A photograph of Wilder in 1887 while she worked as a schoolteacher The US Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has removed Laura<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}