"Ten Little Indians" is a traditional American children's counting out rhyme. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

number of 12976. The term "Indians" in this sense refers to Indigenous North American peoples. In 1868, songwriter

Septimus Winner Septimus Winner (May 11, 1827 – November 22, 1905) was an American songwriter of the 19th century. He used his own name, and also the pseudonyms Alice Hawthorne, Percy Guyer, Mark Mason, Apsley Street, and Paul Stenton. He was also a teacher ...

adapted it as a song, then called "Ten Little Injuns", for a

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

Lyrics

The modern lyrics for the children's rhyme are: \relative c' \addlyrics

Minstrel song

Songwriter Septimus Winner created an elaborated version of the children's song, called "Ten Little Injuns", in 1868 for a minstrel show.

Derivative songs and books

It is generally thought that this song was adapted, possibly by Frank J. Green in 1869, as "Ten Little

Nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

s", though it is possible that the influence was the other way around, with "Ten Little Niggers" being a close reflection of the text that became "Ten Little Indians". Either way, "Ten Little Niggers" became a standard of the

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

minstrel shows. It was sung by

Christy's Minstrels Christy's Minstrels, sometimes referred to as the Christy Minstrels, were a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, a well-known ballad singer, in 1843, in Buffalo, New York. They were instrumental in the solidification of the minstrel sh ...

and became widely known in Europe, where it was used by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

in her novel of the same name, about ten killings on a remote island. The novel was later retitled ''

And Then There Were None ''And Then There Were None'' is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, described by her as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as ...

'' (1939), and remains one of her most famous works. The Spanish and Russian titles of Christie's novel today are still ''Diez negritos'' and «Десять негритят», respectively, and the German children's song, with a different melody, is called "Zehn kleine Negerlein". Variants of this song have been published widely as children's books; what the variants have in common is 'that they are about dark-skinned boys who are always children, never learning from experience'. For example, it had been published in the Netherlands by 1913; in Denmark by 1922 (in ''Börnenes billedbog''); in Iceland in 1922 (as "Negrastrákarnir"); and in Finland in the 1940s (in ''Kotoa ja kaukaa: valikoima runosatuja lapsille'' and ''Hupaisa laskukirja''). The Bengali poem "Haradhon er Dosti Chhele" ("Haradhon's Ten Sons") is also inspired by "Ten Little Indians".

Criticism of racist language

Because of changing sensibilities over the words used, modern versions for children often use "aeroplanes", "soldier boys" or "teddy bears" as the objects of the rhyme. Icelandic publisher Skrudda's unaltered republication in 2007 of the 1922 Icelandic version of ''Ten Little Negroes'' caused considerable debate in that country, with a strong division between those who saw the book as racist and those who saw it as "a part of funny and silly stories created in the past". In Kristín Loftsdóttir's assessment of the debate, The republishing of the book in Iceland triggered a number of parodies or rewritings: ''Tíu litlír kenjakrakkar'' ("Ten little prankster-children") by Sigrún Eldjárn and

Þórarinn Eldjárn Þórarinn Eldjárn (born 22 August 1949) is an Icelandic writer, particularly well known in Iceland for his humorous poetry books for children. Life and work Þórarinn is the son of Kristján Eldjárn, the third president of Iceland (in off ...

; ''10 litlir sveitastrákar'' ("Ten little country-boys") by Katrín J. Óskarsdóttir and Guðrún Jónína Magnúsdóttir; and ''Tíu litlir bankastrákar'' ("Ten little banker-boys") by Óttar M. Njorðfjörð.Sigrún Eldjárn and Þórarinn Eldjárn, ''Tíu litlir kenjakrakkar'' (Reykjavík: Mál og menning, 2007); Katrín J. Óskarsdóttir and Guðrún Jónína Magnúsdóttir, ''10 litlir sveitastrákar'' (

ella Ella may refer to: * Ella (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Places United States * Ella, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Ella, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Ella, Pennsylvania, an unincorporate ...

Vildarkjör, 007; Óttar M. Norðfjörð, ''Tíu litlir bankastrákar'' ( eykjavík Sögur, 2008).

1945 version

The following version of the song was included in the first film version of ''

'' (1945), which largely took Green's lyrics and replaced the already sensitive word "nigger" with "Indian" (in some versions "soldiers"):

Bibliography

*"Reviews and Literary Notices", pp. 770–779, ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', vol. III (June 1859) no. XX, Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company. *Wilson, B. M. "John Brown's Ten Little Injuns" pp. 32–36, ''Wilson's Book of Drills and Marches for Young People and Small Children of Both Sexes''. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald (1895). *Winner, Septimus. "Ten Little Injuns" (Sheet music). Boston: Oliver Ditson Company (1868).

Notes

Sources *

External links

* {{Authority control American nursery rhymes American folk songs Traditional children's songs Songwriter unknown 1868 songs Songs about Native Americans Race-related controversies in music