Laura Ingalls Wilder

Linda

Linda

Senior Member
Location
Central California foothills
If you read the Little House On The Prairie books or watched the TV show by the same name, you know who Laura Ingalls Wilder was. As I understand it her name has been removed from an annual prestigious book award because her "Ma" in one of the books was afraid of Indians, if there is more I haven't heard about it. Do you think they were correct in changing the name of the award?

When the Association for Library Service to Children, which gives out the “Laura Ingalls Wilder Award” every year, announced that the author’s name would from now on be removed from the prestigious book prize, it touched a nerve.

“This decision was made in consideration of the fact that Wilder’s legacy, as represented by her body of work, includes expressions of stereotypical attitudes inconsistent with ALSC’s core values of inclusiveness, integrity, and respect, and responsiveness,” said the organization, which gives the award to authors whose work has made a lasting impact on the world of children’s literature.
 

I think removing her name because her "ma" was afraid of Indians is ridiculous. I think Laura Ingalls Wilder's books are at least semi-autobiographical and based on her own life experiences, and her "ma" probably was afraid of Indians, based on the historical context of the books. You can't re-write history to suit political correctness.
 
Wasn’t she in little house on the prairie Linda
I never missed an episode of that
What’s happing in this world ..not to highjack your thread but uni students ( in Adelaide ) had their assignments downgraded because they used the word (Mankind)
 
I'm a guy, and have never read the books, nor watched the TV show. Unfortunately, her books faithfully recounted the racist biases on the US frontier in the 1800s. This is a growing problem with US literature from the 1800s. This was an era when 80% of the White population believed Blacks were trainable apes ,or at best, inferior humans. How do you recommend literature to children when it contains blatant racism?
 
IMO Laura Ingall's Wilder was one of the great people of her time and she should be remembered in the context of her time.

I agree with Butterfly that you can't rewrite/sanitize history and still expect people to learn from it.
 
I absolutely agree, this is stupid!!!! If they start to sanitise history then there will be no history to remember or know, and all the same mistakes will be repeated.. It's extremely important we learn from history , and to punish an author for recounting history as it happened no matter how small,( and in this case very small, not even racist, just a fact of life being afraid of something or someone, where will it end...crocodilist, Lionist...or any people who carried weapons?..it would be right to be afraid and it makes it fact...?... it's more than ridiculous
 
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Anyone with a basic knowledge of life on the US frontier in the 1800s understands that a youngster living there may full well have had just cause to fear the natives. Wishing it wasn't so changes nothing.

"A generation which ignores history has no past - and no future" - Robert Heinlein
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I'm a guy, and have never read the books, nor watched the TV show. Unfortunately, her books faithfully recounted the racist biases on the US frontier in the 1800s. This is a growing problem with US literature from the 1800s. This was an era when 80% of the White population believed Blacks were trainable apes ,or at best, inferior humans. How do you recommend literature to children when it contains blatant racism?
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How? You teach.
 
Kadee46 said:
Wasn’t she in little house on the prairie Linda
I never missed an episode of that
What’s happing in this world ..not to highjack your thread but uni students ( in Adelaide ) had their assignments downgraded because they used the word (Mankind)
Click to expand...

She was not in the TV series; she was the author of the books that the series was based upon.
 
Ridiculous. This are being carried way too far with this political correctness stuff.:mad: I enjoyed Little House on the Prairie. :love_heart: It's a slice of life from American history and history is history, or it should be.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I'm not a girl. Never read the books or saw the TV show. So, exactly what racist content is in them?
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The mother was "afraid of Indians." :rolleyes: Incidentally, the books were based on Laura Ingalls-Wilder's actual life, around 1874 or so.

So yeah, by all means let's change HISTORY to suit our ridiculously out-of-control political correctness. Such B.S.
 
Being that the rule by the swastika is now the order of the day why not fly the swastika in our front lawns? We are headed for even more dangerous times. We are guilty if mentioned.
 
Aside from this silly business about her mother's fear of the Indians, those Little House books carry a special meaning for my family. My daughter, Laura, was instantly mesmerized by those stories when she was little, maybe
partly since she had the same first name. I read her one chapter every night as her bedtime story, and when we reached the end of the books, I had to start all over again. She remained a huge fan of LIW, and has several times traveled to the LIW Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, even bringing her own daughters along to share in the magic of those stories. She became a teacher and reading specialist, and I give Laura Ingalls Wilder and her marvelous storytelling full credit for inspiring her.

The books, of course, reflect the thoughts and feelings (and yes, fears) of people living in the 19th century. Some of those fears, maybe most of them, were grounded in reality. It is totally absurd to call this racism!
 
I think that some of us go overboard when criticizing "political correctness", as if there has never been any good as a result of it's use. I realize that there's a hidden political agenda when the subject comes up but please remember that we might be still openly using the term "N----R" to describe some of our fellow citizens, along with a few other similar words that were hurled at minorities and/or people unlike ourselves.

I wholeheartedly agree with folks that some of the foolish corrections that are given the tag"political correctness" can be ridiculous but IMHO, when used with a bit of common sense, it can make for a better society.
 
Kadee46 said:
Wasn’t she in little house on the prairie Linda
I never missed an episode of that
What’s happing in this world ..not to highjack your thread but uni students ( in Adelaide ) had their assignments downgraded because they used the word (Mankind)
Click to expand...

I don't care if you high-jack my thread Kadee. When I sit around in a room with people our subjects often go off on tangents so I don't mind it happening here either. :)

I really see nothing wrong with using the word Mankind. I often just say human or humans and guess I might use the word humankind but I don't find mankind offensive.

And yes, that was the TV series but in my opinion (and I bet I shouldn't say this) the series got way too sappy. Probably thanks to Micheal Landon. I liked the books a lot better than the TV show. And lots of men and boys watched the show and I assume, enjoyed it.
 

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