From the Scholastic Description:
A Birthday Cake for George Washington
Everyone is buzzing about the president's birthday! Especially George Washington's servants, who scurry around the kitchen preparing to make this the best celebration ever. Oh, how George Washington loves his cake! And, oh, how he depends on Hercules, his head chef, to make it for him. Hercules, a slave, takes great pride in baking the president's cake. But this year there is one problem — they are out of sugar.
And such is the life of a happy slave. That description is the premise for the zany adventures of Washington's chief slave, Hercules. The book strikes a joyful, child-like tone and is accompanied by many bright, colorful illustrations of Hercules smiling widely along with his happy children. Spoiler alert: Hercules finds what he needs and rushes back in time to bake the cake! Everyone then sings "Happy Birthday" to the delight of George and Martha. THE END.
So should you find any of that insulting? Hardly. The author, Ramin Ganeshram, argues that slaves were actually proud of their “status” positions and made use of the "perks" of those positions. She added: “In a modern sense, many of us don’t like to consider this, fearing that if we deviate from the narrative of constant-cruelty we diminish the horror of slavery.”
FINALLY. Someone willing to talk about the good aspects of slavery.
Librarian Edi Campbell wrote a scathing critique of the book, and described the actual conditions the slaves worked under—which weren’t as pleasant as depicted in the book. Washington’s slaves worked from sunrise to sunset in a very harsh environment. He took particular umbrage with the Artist’s Note written by the illustrator of the book, Vanessa Brantley-Newton:
While slavery in America was a vast injustice, my research indicates that Hercules and the other servants in George Washington’s kitchen took great pride in their ability to cook for a man of such stature. That is why I have depicted them as happy people. There is joy in what they have created through their intelligence and culinary talent.
I shouldn't have to say this, but I will. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HAPPY SLAVE!
Just as there were no happy prisoners in concentration camps. There were no happy POWs in Vietnam. There are no happy Yazidis enslaved by Daesh. I DON’T GIVE A F--- HOW WELL THEY ARE TREATED OR HOW F---ING WELL THEY BAKE A CAKE! These are captives that can be forced to perform in any capacity against their will with the only protection being whatever mercy their captors decide to give them. This is absolutely repulsive to the human condition and should NEVER be whitewashed--much less celebrated!
By the way, it is doubtful that the real Hercules depicted in the book was as thrilled as the story makes him out to be. He ran away.
George Washington may be depicted as a benevolent master because he set the slaves free upon his death, but during his life he inflicted harsh corporal punishment on his slaves. The neighbor of his Mt. Vernon estate remarked that he treated his slaves "with more severity than any other man".
My hunch is that the creators of this book didn't think that a blood-soaked shirt would fit well with the smiling Negro baking motif.
Incredulously, the Children's Book Council gives the same story description as Scholastic but pre-empted it by calling this despicable farce "a true story of an enslaved girl’s father who baked an unforgettable birthday cake for America’s first president."
It isn’t true at all. It is doubtful the man even ever baked a stupid birthday cake. The true story is that slaves were chattel with no rights of any kind. They were raped at will, tortured with white hot forks, chained together, and kept in noxious conditions. And that was just the ride over here.
Presenting slaves as workers in textbooks or happy bakers in children’s books doesn't erase the horror inflicted on generations of African-Americans, but it does serve to corrupt young minds with the conservative viewpoint that slavery wasn’t all that bad.
Defending slavery seems to be the new conservative pastime. Thanks to Vanessa and Ramin, they now have a book to read their children.
UPDATE: Scholastic pulled the book. Well done.