Did Dr. Seuss Draw Racist Cartoons?

Theodor Seuss Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, was well known for children’s books like “The Lorax,” which contained progressive messages about the environment and more.

But that legacy is under fire.

On Read Across America Day on March 2, 2021— which is also Dr. Seuss’ birthday — the business that preserves his legacy announced that six of his children’s books would no longer be published due to their offensive and racist content. Some schools also sought to de-emphasize studying his work on that day because of its racial undertones.

Dr. Seuss also had a history of creating cartoons featuring racist propaganda, and offensive caricatures of Black people, Asians, and Arabs. Twitter users shared the following cartoons of Black people depicted in an offensive and racist style. We learned that these were indeed created by Dr. Seuss around the time he was creating advertisements and comics as an illustrator.