"Sambo" Hand Puppet c. 1937

Editor: This watercolor illustration, titled "Sambo" Hand Puppet, made around 1937 by Ruth Abrams, depicts, well, a puppet. The colors are surprisingly vibrant. What stories do you think it tells? Curator: This image carries echoes, doesn't it? Consider the symbolism: a hand puppet meant for play, yet rendered with a somewhat unsettling fixed grin. What purpose do you imagine it served, in its time? Editor: I suppose children used it? Curator: Perhaps, but cultural artifacts don’t exist in a vacuum. The name “Sambo,” laden with a history of racial caricature, infuses the seemingly innocent object with a troubling past. Think about how such images shaped perceptions, perpetuating harmful stereotypes. What feelings arise as you look at the puppet? Editor: It’s… complicated. It feels wrong to see something potentially meant for entertainment carrying so much historical weight, and the caricature seems exaggerated, maybe even intentionally disturbing? Curator: Indeed. Abrams, perhaps knowingly, captured an object that simultaneously entertains and wounds. It holds memory--the memory of how Black individuals have been and, for some, continue to be represented, or, rather, misrepresented. How can we reconcile this object's function with the cultural narratives it reflects? Editor: I guess it’s a reminder that even seemingly harmless things can carry difficult histories and that it’s important to understand their context. Curator: Precisely. It asks us to confront uncomfortable truths about representation and cultural memory. I think that’s where it holds it’s value. Editor: Thanks, I didn't really look at it that way at first, I just saw a drawing of a puppet. Curator: Symbols often hide in plain sight, waiting for us to uncover them.