YouTuber and children’s educator Rachel Anne Accurso, also known as Ms. Rachel, called out three nursery rhymes with racist roots that should be “retired.”
During an appearance on SubwayTakes podcast, Ms. Rachel said, “So the ones that really need to be retired are racist ones. Jimmy Crack Corn, Oh! Susanna, Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe.”
She said “Jimmy Crack Corn” was originally about a man celebrating the death of his master. The song was performed minstrel shows and included the N-word in its lyrics.
She said “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe”, which teaches children to count, originally contained the N-word which was replaced by the word “tiger.”
A third song, “Oh! Susanna” was adopted for minstrel shows and performed in blackface.
Ms. Rachel found two other nursery rhymes to be offensive.
“Three Little Kittens”
The cat and her kittens
They put on their mittens,
To eat a Christmas pie.
The poor little kittens
They lost their mittens,
And then they began to cry.
“O mother dear, we sadly fear
We cannot go to-day,
For we have lost our mittens.”
“If it be so, ye shall not go,
For ye are naughty kittens.”
“Like, I feel like the three little kittens should not be denied the pie,” Ms. Rachel said. “Three Little Kittens. They lost their mittens, and they began to cry, and then the mom’s like, ‘You naughty kittens, you can’t have any pie.’ And I feel like she can give them some strategies for not losing the mittens all the time. Like, I need strategies for not losing things all the time. And she could—they could retrace their steps together.”
Ms. Rachel also called out “Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater” because it depicts a man locking his wife in a pumpkin shell.
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife but couldn’t keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.
“Okay. ‘Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater,’ I’m so against,” Rachel said. “‘Had a wife but couldn’t keep her.’ So he kept her very well, like in a pumpkin shell. Like, he makes his wife; he keeps her in a pumpkin shell, and she, like, can’t get out. It’s not okay,” she added.