Murzynek Bambo

rdf:langString Murzynek Bambo

rdf:langString "Murzynek Bambo" (Bambo the black child) is a children's poem by Jewish-Polish author Julian Tuwim (September 1894 – December 1953), written in 1934. It is about a little black boy called Bambo, who lives in Africa. The poem is sixteen lines long, arranged in eight rhyming couplets. It tells the story of Bambo, a young black African child, who diligently studies in an African school. When he returns home, he fools around and is told off by his mother. He reacts by frowning. When offered milk by his mother, he runs off and climbs a tree. His mother tells him to have a bath, but he is afraid that he will whiten. His mother loves him though. The poem ends by saying that it is a pity that "black, happy Bambo" doesn't go to school with us. Tuwim's poem, which was said to have been written to promote tolerance toward other ethnicities during interwar Poland, is seen by many as highly controversial with critics accusing the author of perpetuating harmful racial stereotypes.