Debussy occasionally reacted to musical trends in his compositions, as was the case with American ragtime.

Aside from Golliwogg’s Cakewalk, in Children’s Corner (HN 382), The little Negro is even today a standard piece in modern crossover orientated piano teaching. Debussy did actually compose the piece for a piano method, namely that of Théodore Lack, published in 1909. In 1934 the publishing house Leduc produced a single version, in which measures 22 to 54 are repeated, unlike in the first edition. The piece is not particularly difficult and is very effective.