Nursery rhymes banned in Scottish library events over historical racism fears

The nursery rhyme Five Little Monkeys has been banned from children’s events in Scotland over fears about “historical racism” raised in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

Popular “Bookbug” sessions are held for young children across Scotland with the support of the Scottish Book Trust, the Holyrood-backed charity which has told libraries and nurseries hosting these events that certain songs should no longer be sung.

Despite having lyrics unrelated to race, Five Little Monkeys has been banned because it has “historical racist intent”.

The well-known modern tune concerns a group of monkeys jumping on a bed. However, following the Black Lives Matter protests, the trust removed the song from its approved repertoire because an earlier version with different lyrics “projected racist sentiments”.

Councils across Scotland have agreed that Bookbug sessions held in libraries and other venues will not include the song, as well as others deemed to have offensive origins despite their present versions appearing innocuous.

The trust stated that the nursery rhymes were removed from its repertoire following “careful consideration and research” and “when we were made aware that these songs were associated with historical racist intent”.

A statement added: “While the variations that were previously used in the Bookbug programme did not themselves appear questionable or racist, these songs originally projected racist sentiments, and we no longer promote these songs as part of our programme.”

The trust’s Bookbug programme provides free books and learning material, as well as singing and storytelling sessions for babies, toddlers and young children.

The songs used as part of the programme for toddlers and young children were reviewed for “historical racist intent” in 2020, when the trust pledged support to Black Lives Matter, promising to “support and amplify anti-racist voices”.

While the lyrics have no racial content now, Five Little Monkeys may have its origins in the US in the late 19th century, and included the slur “n------” instead of the word “monkeys”.  The song may have derived from Shortnin’ Bread, a song sung on plantations.

The Scottish Book Trust has also proscribed Jump Jim Joe, an interactive song with accompanying actions which features the lyrics “Round and ‘round and ‘round you’ll go/Then you find another partner and/You Jump Jim Joe!”

It is believed that this song also has its origins in 19th-century America, and was once titled Jump Jim Crow, Jim Crow being a blackface theatre character mocking African-Americans.

The trust has also removed Little Pebbles, which uses the repetitive form of “One little, two little, three little pebbles” to help children learn how to count. Earlier versions of the song typically used the word “Indians” instead of “pebbles”, likely in reference to Native Americans.

Trust accused of ‘thought policing’

But Dr Zareer Masani, a historian, criticised the removal of songs materially different to those versions that included offensive terms as “thought policing”.

He said: “The absurdity of the woke decolonisation movement has now even chosen to take exception to what might once have been offensive but no longer is. And the latest victim of this political correctness are Scottish libraries.  

“Presumably, even nursery rhymes about Little Miss Muffett would be deemed hugely sexist.  And mightn’t the Billy Bunter books be offensive to fat people?  

“On a more serious note, one assumes that all this ideological thought-policing actually involves paying people to do the job. A useful way of spending our taxes?”

The Scottish Book Trust said: “Our Bookbug Song and Rhyme Library and our Bookbug App feature over 200 songs and rhymes, which session leaders can use during their sessions but they are not limited to this.”

‘Morality clause’ concerns

The removal of nursery rhymes is not the first decision by the Scottish Book Trust which has drawn criticism. Last November, authors accused the charity of introducing a “morality clause” which would stifle the free speech of gender-critical writers.

The trust asked authors, who are paid to attend events run by the trust, to sign a code of conduct which includes revised clauses insisting they must avoid “bigotry” and “transphobia” in order to take part in events.

Authors claimed that this would create a transgender “morality clause”, saying gender-critical writers may be barred from events and denied pay if they were found to have breached the code.

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