Politically Incorrect Crayons

Since 1903 – only three Crayola colors have been fired...

If you have a box of crayons with the color Raw Umber in there – that’s an old box. Raw Umber was renamed to Wild Strawberry in 1990. Crayola started in 1903 with 8 basic colors – and now has a core color list of 120. In that time span – several colors were renamed or retired – but only three colors were actually fired for being politically incorrect:

• Prussian Blue made its entrance in 1949 – but was replaced by Midnight Blue in 1958 in response to teachers’ requests. That crayon was accused of being Cold War insensitive.

• Flesh also started in ’49 – but was ousted for Peach in 1962 - as a result of the U.S. civil rights movement.

• Indian Red was entered the box in 1958 but was terminated for Chestnut in 1999 - in response to educators who felt some children might perceive the crayon color was intended to represent the skin color of Native Americans. The name actually originated from reddish pigment found near India commonly used in fine artist oil paint.

Source: Crayola.com