Black doll
A Black doll is a
European manufacture
Several 19th-century European doll companies preceded American doll companies in manufacturing Black dolls. These predecessors include Carl Bergner of Germany, who made a three-faced doll with one face of a crying black child and the other two, happier white faces. In 1892,
American manufacture
American entrepreneur Richard Henry Boyd founded the National Negro Doll Company in 1911 "after he tried to purchase dolls for his children but could find none that were not gross caricatures of African Americans."[1]
American companies began including Black dolls in their doll lines in the early 1900s. Between 1910 and 1930, Horsman, Vogue, and
In 1947, the first African American woman cartoonist Jackie Ormes created the Patty-Jo doll, which was based on Patty-Jo 'n Ginger, the cartoon panel she penned for newspapers at the time.[2] The doll was a realistic Black doll, breaking the mammy doll stereotype.[3]
Beatrice Wright Brewington, an African American entrepreneur, founded B. Wright's Toy Company, Inc. and mass-produced Black dolls with ethnically-correct features.[4] Also an educator, Wright began instructing girls in the art of making dolls in 1955.[5]
During the 1960s and in the aftermath of the
Other popular collectible Black dolls include manufactured play dolls past and current, manufactured dolls designed for collectors by companies such as
Black Doll Museums
The Philadelphia Doll Museum was founded in 1988 by Barbara Whiteman. While the museum was open, roughly 1,000 Black dolls were on view.[7] The Philadelphia Doll Museum is now closed.
To honor the history of Black dolls, in 2012, three sisters named Debra Britt, Felicia Walker, and Tamara Mattison opened the National Black Doll Museum of History and Culture in Mansfield, Massachusetts. While open to the public, it featured over 6,000 Black dolls[8] and its mission is to continue to nurture the self-esteem of children and preserve the legacy of Black dolls.[9]
In January 2021, Black-doll collector, historian, and author on the subject of black dolls, Debbie Behan Garrett founded DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum, "the first and only virtual Black doll museum where antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls are celebrated 24/7."
See also
- African American culture
- Golliwog
- Topsy-Turvy doll
- Philadelphia Doll Museum
Black Doll Reference Books
- Collector's Encyclopedia of Black Dolls by Patiki Gibbs, Collector Books, 1986
- Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide 1820-1991 by Myla Perkins, Collector Books, 1991
- Black Dolls an Identification and Value Guide Book II by Myla Perkins, Collector Books, 1995
- The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls by Debbie Behan Garrett, Hobby House Press, 2003
- Black Dolls Proud, Bold & Beautiful by Nayda Rondon, Reverie Press, 2004
- Collectible African American Dolls Identification and Values by Yvonne Ellis, Collector Books, 2008
- Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating Collecting and Experiencing the Passion by Debbie Behan Garrett, 2008
- "The Scripts of Black Dolls" in Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights, by Robin Bernstein, 2011
- See also Robin Bernstein, Children's Books, Dolls, and the Performance of Race; or, The Possibility of Children's Literature, PMLA 126.1 (2011): 160-169.
References
- ^ "Former Slave Creates The First Black Doll Company For His Daughters, Here's Why | Black Then". blackthen.com. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "Jackie Ormes: Torchy, Candy, Patty-Jo & Ginger!". Zócalo Poets. 2015-03-01. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ Sayej, Nadja (2017-04-25). "From controversy to empowerment: the history of black dolls". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ Enthusiast, Black Doll (2010-02-23). "Black Doll Collecting: Moments in Black Doll History - Beatrice Wright Dolls". Black Doll Collecting. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ MIBDH: The Shindana Story and One of Its Main Characters (retrieved May 5, 2017), The Shindana Story, Originally printed in the March/April 1990 issue of Doll-E-Gram, published by Lavern E. Hall
- ^ "Doll museum embodies passion for history, hope for future : WHYY". WHYY. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "Black Is Beautiful: Why Black Dolls Matter". Collectors Weekly. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "Learning from Toys". Harvard Magazine. 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2018-11-08.