"Zebros and elosphants": Images of Blacks in Natural History Adventure-Empire Tales Read by Young People in Wellington County, Ontario, 1880-1890

Abstract

Résumé: Cet article examine quatre récits d'aventures pour la jeunesse du XIXe siècle traitant des sciences naturelles, que l'on a lus aux enfants du comté de Wellington, en Ontario, dans les années 1880-1890. Ces aventures d'explorateurs-naturalistes prônaient l'expansion de l'Empire britannique en Afrique; elles laissaient entendre que les Noirs qui aidaient les héros étaient inférieurs aux Blancs. Summary: This article examines four nineteenth-century children's stories dealing with natural sciences that were read to schoolchildren in Wellington County, Ontario, between 1880 and 1890. The adventures of explorers and naturalists championed the goals of the British Empire in Africa. They also gave readers the impression that the native Africans who assisted the heroes were inferior to White People.