brief history of Disney diversity

Exploring the long and uneven road to Halle Bailey being cast as Ariel in the upcoming Little Mermaid film

WORDS ELLEN E JONES

1941

Dumbo included a gang of African-American stereotypes disguised as crows, with their leader named ‘Jim Crow’ in a nod to the South’s segregation laws. These scenes will reportedly be omitted when aired on Disney+.

1992

Princess Jasmine

ALADDIN

If you were a little brown girl growing up in the 1990s, Princess Jasmine was a thrilling addition. Between that excitement and Robin Williams’ Genie, we may have overlooked the dodgy orientalist ‘othering’.