Race and Culture in 19th-Century Children's Periodicals (2015)

Undergraduate: Andrew Soboeiro

Faculty Advisor: Susan Pennybacker
Department: History

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As one of the most popular and accessible sources of children's literature in the nineteenth century, periodicals provide a window into what British children of all class backgrounds would have read as they grew up. As such, it helps us to understand the way in which the concepts of British, white, and Western superiority were passed on to younger generations. Most children's authors accepted the premise that Britons were superior to other peoples, but disagreed over whether that superiority was inherent and racial in nature or merely the result of better cultural practices. This distinction was not always hard-and-fast given that many authors believed that cultural superiority could have effects as permanent as racial superiority. Racial and cultural stereotypes were so heavily ingrained in British society that even authors who deliberately tried to challenge racism ended up reinforcing many stereotypes.