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A Dr. Seuss museum in Massachusetts has agreed to replace a mural showing a Chinese character with chopsticks, slanted eyes and a pointed hat after three authors said the depiction was racist and refused to attend a museum event in protest.

The authors, Mo Willems, Mike Curato and Lisa Yee, said in a letter on Thursday that they would not attend a book festival on Oct. 14 at the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, Mass., because of the “jarring racial stereotype” of the character from Dr. Seuss’s book “And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.”

“We find this caricature of ‘the Chinaman’ deeply hurtful, and have concerns about children’s exposure to it,” the letter said. The authors published a copy of the letter on their social media accounts.

The book in which the character appears, published in 1937, was the first by the author Theodor Geisel, who went on to become a giant of children’s literature under the name Dr. Seuss. “While the image may have been considered amusing to some when it was published 80 years ago, it is obviously offensive in 2017,” the authors said in their letter.

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The letter was addressed to the Springfield Museums, an organization that includes the Dr. Seuss museum and four other museums, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which oversees Mr. Geisel’s brand. Hours later, the two organizations announced that the mural would be replaced:

Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote under the pen name Dr. Seuss during his lifetime from 1904-1991. Dr. Seuss created an enormous body of work including children’s books and political cartoons. Dr. Seuss was a man of his times. He was also a man who evolved with his times. Dr. Seuss’s own story is a story of growth with some early works containing hurtful stereotypes to later works like The Sneetches and Horton Hears a Who! which contain lessons of tolerance and inclusion. It is in that spirit that Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the Springfield Museums listened to the concerns voiced by the authors and fans and have made the decision to take down the Mulberry street mural at the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum and replace it with a new image that reflects the wonderful characters and messages from Dr. Seuss’s later works. This is what Dr. Seuss would have wanted us to do. Dr. Seuss would have loved to be a part of this dialogue for change. In fact, Ted Geisel himself said, “It’s not how you start that counts. It’s what you are at the finish.”

After the museums’ announcement, the authors followed up with a second letter saying they would attend the children’s book event, but a separate announcement from the museum said the event had been canceled, without giving a reason.