I had heard of the racist version of “Eenie Meenie Mini Moe” but the last one “Short’nin Bread” made my mouth drop because I recognized it as “Three Little Monkeys”, a song I was taught in private school no less. I had heard from my grandmother about some of the songs and phrases that we think of as “modern” today actually had their roots from several centuries ago & blatantly included racist, sexist, etc language. "I’m not a Mom but I came across this website to find some activities for my little sister. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone knew whether or not this was based on the alligator bait thing."įrom "Five Children's Songs With Racist Histories", posted by Angele, April 29, 2014
Is eenie meenie miney mo racist plus#
*It's the combo of monkeys plus being eaten by an alligator that's tweaking with me. I'm mainly talking about the version of 5 Little Monkeys that goes. "Just to clarify, I'm not like, "everything with a monkey in it is racist". So, do I just let it go, or educate people? Even though I can't be 100% certain." "I'm not real crazy about 5 Little Monkeys jumping on a bed anyway (I remember hearing it with "N" as a kid)… I'm sure the vast majority of the people repeating this rhyme have no idea it has any racist roots. This quote was reformatted for this post. My 77-year-old mother heard "Five Little Monkeys" on my child's Baby Genius CD recently and said "Monkeys? It's 'Five Little Darkies' and the doctor says to feed them shortenin' bread!" So the N word was already out of favor in the northeast US by the time she was a child, and "darkies" was preferred for both the beginning and ending phrase. This rhyme was beginning to be cleansed as early as the late 1930s. unfortunately monkeys and apes have often been used as stand-in characters for African-Americans. Like many children's rhymes and songs, the rhythm of the verse was too catchy for people to abandon, so parents/teachers simply changed the characters and the action. "It derives from the original first verse of "Shortenin' Bread": Two little (insert N-word here) Lyin' in bed One of 'em sick An' de odder mos' dead.Call for de doctorAn' de doctor said,"Feed dem darkies on shortenin' bread" We all know the chorus: Mammy's little baby loves Shortenin', shortenin',Mammy's little baby love shortenin' bread. Respondent: Books and Literature SupervisorMyrab51 This is a response to the question: "What is the origin of The Five Little Monkeys "? POSSIBLE SOURCES OF AND COMMENTS ABOUT EARLY VERSIONS OF "FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED" RHYME Two little monkeys jumping on the bed etc Three little monkeys jumping on the bed etc. As each little monkey falls off and "bumps his head," children will learn about basic subtraction skills in the context of this quirky song.įour little monkeys jumping on the bed etc. The classic children's song "Five Little Monkeys" (or "5 Little Monkeys") helps children learn basic math skills. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.Ĭlick for the closely related 2014 pancocojams post "Versions Of "Shortnin' Bread" Song (1900-1950)"Ī Early Learning Academy, Published on Jan 6, 2014 The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes. This post also includes my comments about that information and about another possible source for that chant. This pancocojams post presents a compilation of the online comments that I have found to date about the probable racist roots of the "Five Little Monkeys/"Ten Little Monkeys" chant. And "monkey" itself is a word which has also been used in the past and the present as an offensive referent for Black people.
These early versions of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed" used the "n word" plural or "darkies" as referents for Black people instead of the word "monkey". Anecdotal evidence suggests that early versions of the chant that is now known as "Five Little Monkeys" (also known as "Ten Little Monkeys") was based on the "Shortnin Bread" song.
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