Ten Little N******
What ‘Ten Little Monkeys’ Didn’t Teach Us'
🚫 Content Warning
This post contains historical material that includes explicit racial slurs, racist caricatures, and depictions of violence against Black children. These materials are shared not to endorse, but to expose the normalized racism in 19th- and 20th-century children's books. Reader discretion is advised.
If you want to find the original lines: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00026617/00001/images/0cy
“Ten Little Niggers”: The Making of a Black Man’s Consciousness – Folklore Forum
Introduction
I didn’t grow up in America.
I didn’t mark Juneteenth until recent years.
But I know what it means to inherit the aftermath of systems that dehumanize.
This isn’t just an American issue.
It’s a colonial one.
And sometimes, it hides in the most unsuspecting places, like a nursery rhyme.
You might remember “Ten Little Monkeys,” the harmless version—one falls off the bed, again and again.
What you might not know is that it descended from something far uglier:
A rhyme once called “Ten Little N****** Boys”*—a children’s book where Black boys died, one by one, each time with a rhyme and a smile.
It was printed in color. Sung aloud. Shared in classrooms.
It rhymed so easily, no one stopped to ask what it was teaching.
So no, I didn’t post on Juneteenth.
But this is my offering—late, yes.
Still urgent.
Because even if the date has passed,
the work of remembering, reckoning, and unlearning
has no deadline.
The Verses
(Presented exactly as published in historical materials. Slur preserved here for historical accuracy and critical examination only.)
Ten Little N***** Boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self, and then there were Nine.Nine Little N***** Boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself, and then there were Eight.Eight Little N***** Boys on their way to Heaven;
One was left behind, and then there were Seven.Seven Little N***** Boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves, and then there were Six.Six Little N***** Boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one, and then there were Five.Five Little N***** Boys going in for law;
One got in durance vile, and then there were Four.Four Little N***** Boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one, and then there were Three.Three Little N***** Boys walking in the “Zoo”;
The big Bear hugged one, and then there were Two.Two Little N***** Boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up, and then there was One.One little N***** boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself, and then there were None.
Line-by-Line Breakdown: What These Rhymes Really Teach
Each line of the rhyme presents the death, disappearance, or erasure of a Black child. It’s masked in childlike rhythm but built on brutal messaging:
🔴 1. Ten Little N****** Boys went out to dine; One choked his little self, and then there were Nine.
Surface Meaning: One dies from choking while eating.
Deeper Analysis: This sets the tone—Black children get choked/poisoned.
Subtext: Black bodies can’t even be trusted to eat safely; their suffering is humorous and inevitable.
🔴 2. Nine Little N****** Boys sat up very late; One overslept himself, and then there were Eight.
Surface Meaning: One disappears due to oversleeping.
Deeper Analysis: Reinforces racialized stereotypes of laziness or irresponsibility. Slave masters could kill lazy slaves.
Subtext: Black boys are to blame for their own erasure; even rest becomes a punishable offense.
🔴 3. Eight Little N****** Boys on their way to Heaven; One was left behind, and then there were Seven.
Surface Meaning: One doesn’t make it to Heaven.
Deeper Analysis: Suggests that even in death, Black children are excluded from salvation and abandoned/sold by their own families.
Subtext: The spiritual worth of Blackness is denied. This could also reflect the trauma of families being separated and sold during slavery, where children were often left behind or torn from parents.
🔴 4. Seven Little N****** Boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves, and then there were Six.
Surface Meaning: One dies from a work-related accident.
Deeper Analysis: Slaves were also maimed or mutilated for not working well or as punishment for other things “stealing, touching things they weren’t supposed to, etc.”
Subtext: Reinforces the stereotype of Black incompetence with tools, even portraying them as dangerous to themselves. It echoes how historical violence and mutilation were normalized.
🔴 5. Six Little N****** Boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one, and then there were Five.
Surface Meaning: One dies from a bee sting.
Deeper Analysis: Some accounts suggest that enslaved people were tortured by being covered in honey or hung near beehives, attracting insects as punishment.
🔴 6. Five Little N****** Boys going in for law; One got in durance vile, and then there were Four.
Surface Meaning: One is imprisoned (“durance vile” = old legal phrase for jail).
Deeper Analysis: Legal aspirations result in incarceration.
Subtext: The rhyme subtly suggests that Black boys don’t belong in systems of justice; they are instead marked for punishment or incarceration.
🔴 7. Four Little N****** Boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one, and then there were Three.
Surface Meaning: A fish eats one.
Deeper Analysis: The “red herring” is both absurd and metaphorical—often used to mean a distraction or misdirection. Some African slaves chose to jump off the ships and drown rather than face enslavement.
Subtext: Their lives are treated like diversions or disposable plot devices, disappearing without grief, explanation, or value. Some slave owners would also use drowning (stopping right before death) as a brutal form of punishment.
🔴 8. Three Little N****** Boys walking in the Zoo; The big Bear hugged one, and then there were Two.
Surface Meaning: A bear “hugs” (kills) one.
Deeper Analysis: Dehumanizes the child; he belongs more in a zoo, where animals confuse him for kin.
Subtext: Reinforces the animalistic view of Black people, suggesting proximity to beasts rather than humanity.
🔴 9. Two Little N****** Boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up, and then there was One.
Surface Meaning: One dies from the heat.
Deeper Analysis: A grotesque commentary on skin color; “frizzled up” evokes burning, mocking melanin. This may also reference a brutal method used during enslavement known as “sun-drying,” where individuals were restrained under direct sunlight as punishment.
Subtext: Even nature is hostile to Blackness. Blackness is inherently volatile, flammable, and vulnerable.
🔴 10. One little N****** boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself, and then there were None.
Surface Meaning: The last child dies by suicide.
Deeper Analysis: The only purposeful death. It suggests isolation leads to self-destruction, but more chillingly, it mirrors lynching imagery.
Subtext: The internalization of inferiority. A fatal culmination of systemic abuse; he finishes the job the system started.
Why This Still Matters
This rhyme didn’t vanish. Its echoes are everywhere in how Black children are portrayed in media, punished in schools, and erased from memory. If we don’t look back honestly at what was once "normal," we can’t fully see what we still carry.
To document this is not to spread hate. It’s to expose it, unmask it, and name it for what it is.
✍🏽 Author's Note:
I’m not a historian. I wrote this as someone still unlearning things I once thought were harmless. These are my interpretations, based on personal research and reflection.
If I’ve misunderstood something, I welcome correction.
If you’ve ever repeated a rhyme without questioning where it came from—this is a space to do that together. To ask, to remember, and to begin rewriting.
How many harmful rhymes have we never questioned? What remainders of colonialism are still present nowadays?
What lullabies still teach us to overlook pain?
What would it look like to rewrite them all?
Feel free to comment below.
If this stirred something in you—anger, sorrow, memory—you’re not alone. And if you're ready to look deeper into what we’ve carried without question, I’ll be here. Asking. Unlearning. Rewriting.
If you'd like to see more deep dives like this, comment, subscribe and share.
Damn
I didn't know this.
I was taught a poem similar to this in my childhood where there were 5 monkeys. All lines were same with the number decreasing but I think mine was less harmful.
What I was taught:
Five little monkeys were jumping on the bed
One fell down and broke his head
Mumma called the doctor and doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed.
And it continues until there's none.
History has been brutal on black race. I'm sorry for everyone who ever suffered such bigotry.
Americans still suffer from this superiority complex when it comes to other races like asian, brown and especially arabs. Look what they did to arab children of gaza. Slaughtered 15k of them because israeli sitting prime minister called them savages and human animals.
History is repeating itself in a different branding.
Have you read, “And Then There Were None?” By Agatha Christie? This poem is in that text, except they change the n-word to Indians.