Charlie and the Chocolate Factory began as 'anti-racist novel', claims academic

Roald Dahl’s early draft portrayed Charlie as a black boy who gets trapped in a chocolate mould, which researcher says was an image of stifling prejudice

An early draft of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory not only starred a black version of Charlie Bucket, it saw the character trapped in a life-size chocolate mould of a boy as a “metaphor for racial stereotype”, according to research by an American academic.

Dahl’s widow, Liccy Dahl, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last week of how her husband had wanted Charlie to be “a little black boy”. His biographer, Donald Sturrock, added that the idea had been rejected by Dahl’s agent, but no further details were provided about the discarded storyline.

Related: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory hero 'was originally black'

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