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Murzynek Bambo ( Bambo the black child) is a children's poem by Polish Jews author Julian Tuwim (September 1894 – December 1953), written in 1934, which tells a story of a fictitious African child named Bambo.Maciej Tramer, "Bambo zrobił swoje", Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica, vol. 26, issue 4, 2014, pp.149-160 (in Polish)
Tuwim's poem, which was said to have been written to promote tolerance toward other ethnicities during interwar Poland, is seen by many as highly controversial, with critics accusing the author of perpetuating harmful racial stereotypes.
Other Polish critics contend that the contemporary claims of the poem's seeming racism are exaggerated and anachronistic. Murzynek Bambo dla licealistów? , Colemi.pl (in Polish) Referencing Alan Gribben's controversial attempt to expurgate Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, conservative journalist Adam Kowalczyk dismisses the notion that Murzynek Bambo promotes racism in Poland. Huckleberry Finn a Murzynek Bambo, Debata.olsztyn.pl (in Polish) A reader of Gazeta Wyborcza, a major liberal newspaper in Poland, Ewa Trzeszczkowska, describes in a letter how she identifies with Bambo: "For me, this work was and is a cheerful story about a naughty boy from a distant, exotic country, that, although so distant – both the country and the boy – is also similar to me. He has a joy of life which is expressed, amongst other ways, in the climbing of the trees (I climbed them too), and has a slight note of defiance, independence, liberty. Which was and is close to me!" She writes that she does not suspect "the author of these words of bad intentions", though she admits feeling discomfort reading that Bambo fears baths because he might become white.
He studies all morning His 'Moor's First Textbook of Reading Skills'
And when he returns home from school, He plays pranks, tricks — it's his job.
Even mom cries, 'Bambo, you little scamp!' And Bambo puffs his little black cheeks.
Mom says, 'Drink some milk' But he runs away from mom up a tree.
Mom says, 'Let's take a bath' But he is afraid that he will wash out and whiten.
But mom loves her little son, Because this little Moor is a good boy.
It's just unfortunate that this cheerful, black, little Bambo Is not going to school with us.
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