Target Pulls Black History Month Book That Mislabels Black Historical Figures
Target has announced that it is removing a magnet book that was created to celebrate Black History Month from its shelves after several Black figures were mislabeled, The New York Post reports.
Titled “Civil Rights Magnetic Learning Activity,” the books list the wrong names for W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Carter G. Woodson.
Woodson was labeled as Washington, Du Bois’ was labeled as Woodson, and Washington was labeled as Du Bois.
The mislabeling of the book went viral when Issa Tete, a TikToker and a high school U.S. history teacher, said she purchased the product from Target to share with her students “in honor of February being Black History Month.” So far, the TikTok has garnered almost more than 840,000 views.
During the video, Tete shows the illustration of a man labeled as Carter G. Wilson, who created Negro History Week in 1926 which eventually became Black History Month.
“This is not Carter G. Wilson. This is W.E.B. Du Bois,” Tete explained.
“I get it, mistakes happen,” she later added. “But this needs to be corrected ASAP.”
“Peep the ‘stache, they got the name wrong,” Tete said, adding that the children’s book was published by Bendon Publishing.
“I don’t know who’s in charge of Target, but these need to be pulled off the shelves, like, immediately,” Tete said in the TikTok shared Wednesday.
Addressing the mistakes, a spokesperson representing Target said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE said the product “will no longer be selling this product in stores or online” and that the retail giant made Bendon Publishing "aware of the errors."
On Wednesday (Jan.31), Tete thanked those who watched the video and for “tagging Target and holding them accountable.”
“I’m a U.S. history teacher,” Tete said in the video. “I was not going to let that slide.”