Disney creates first black princess

In 2009, a new Disney animated film will be released entitled "The Frog Princess". It will feature a 19 year-old, beautiful, black chambermaid named Maddy. Read more here.



I'm not really excited one way or another by this story. I mean, of course I think it's really cool. I've done some surfing around recently, and apparently there are a lot of little black girls that grew up in my generation that wondered why none of the beautiful princesses looked anything like them. As a child, I never dealt with this issue. Personally, I was all about ballerinas. I even was one for about 11 years! But even when I saw blonde and blue-eyed princesses, queens, etc,...as a child it just never occurred to me that I was excluded from this group. Never. I always thought that I was just as pretty and elegant as they were.

I can't help but wonder if this new creation from Disney is based on pressure from various "groups". Disney doesn't have the best reputation regarding race relations. I'm not sure if you know the story of Mr. Walt Disney, but he was not a jolly, happy-go-lucky guy sitting around whistling while drawing pictures of Mickey Mouse. No sir. You may not know this, but there is actually a standing rumor that Walt Disney was anti-Black and anti-Jew. There is a book written by Walt Disney biographer Neal Gabler entitled "WALT DISNEY: The Triumph of the American Imagination". It doesn't appear that the rumors get put to rest in this bio, either. Gabler states that Walt thought hiring African Americans would "have spoiled the illusion at Disneyland" and that Walt's anti-Semitic reputation is due largely to his membership in an executive organization that was famously hostile to Jews. So waiting until 2007 to create a black princess for release in 2009 doesn't seem so far-fetched. Maybe there will be a Jewish Disney princess created by 2010. :-)