Target immediately removed its children’s books from its Black History Month display after customers noticed they were incorrectly labeled with black icons such as Booker T. Washington, Carter Woodson, and Webb Du Bois. was removed.
Issa Tete, a TikToker who taught American history to high school students and majored in sociology in college, received a message from Target titled “Civil Rights” to share with her students in commemoration of February becoming black. He said he purchased a magnetic learning activity book titled History Month.
On TikTok, Tete showed off a cartoon illustration of a mustachioed man labeled in the book as Carter G. Wilson, who is hailed as one of the first scholars to study African American history. ing.
“This is not Carter G. Wilson. This is W.E.B. Du Bois,” Tete said on Wikipedia. a black-and-white image of a civil rights activist) and a man playing sports. A similar mustache.
“Look at that book. They got the name wrong,” Tete said, noting that the book was created by Ohio-based children’s book publisher Bendon.
Elsewhere in the book, Du Bois’ name is mistakenly lined up with a photo of prominent African American leader and educator Booker T. Washington, and his name is aligned with a photo of black scholar Carter Woodson. Inaccurately listed below the photo.
“You can definitely see the similarities,” Tete says of Woodson’s real life and illustrations.
“I don’t know who is in charge at Target, but these need to be removed from shelves immediately,” Tete said in a TikTok shared Wednesday.
Later that night, a Target spokesperson clarified. TMZ The retailer said, “This product will no longer be sold in stores or online. We have also confirmed that the product’s publisher is aware of the error.”
Mr. Bendon has not yet commented publicly on this serious incident.
The Post has reached out to Target and Mr. Bendon, publisher of “Civil Rights,” for comment.
The outrage over the mislabeled legends continued in Tete’s comments, with people aghast as to why these mistakes were not noticed at any point in the proofreading and publishing process.
One commenter wrote, “They just rolled the names like dice and threw them on top of the pictures. How can so many of them be wrong?”
“This is infuriating!!! This tells me this target BHM [Black History Month] The display just throws things at it,” another furious user wrote.
Some called the mistake “reprehensible,” “outrageous,” and “rude,” while others countered, saying, “The mistake is more insulting than not making it in the first place.”
Considering the respective roles of Booker T. Washington, Carter Woodson, and W.E.B. Du Bois in American history, more users began to question whether the book was created in the United States.
According to Bendon’s website, “all Bendon books are created in-house.”
Company’s Instagram The page, which features other learning-based activities such as coloring books and sticker activity pads, has drawn the ire of customers who have already flooded the comments section with calls for an apology for the “civil rights” book.
