They Were Strong and Good is a children's nonfiction book written and illustrated by Robert Lawson, who won the 1941 Caldecott Medal for excellence in illustration of an American children's picture book.

"None of them," Lawson says in the preface, speaking of his ancestors, "were great or famous, but they were strong and good."

One refers to American Indians as "tame", while in the other, "colored boy" is replaced with "Negro slave".

This illustration is of a Black woman—a bandanna-wearing “mammy”—brandishing a broom at two Indians who are running away with stolen food.

This illustration is of a Black youngster dressed in rags, carrying two dead animals, walking behind his young white master.

Several other illustrations also show Black people dressed in rags, in various positions of servitude.