The history of African American porcelain dolls is a fascinating journey through culture, representation, and identity. From handmade creations born out of necessity to mass-produced toys reflecting changing social landscapes, these dolls offer a unique lens through which to view the African American experience. They are not just playthings; they are artifacts that embody resilience, creativity, and a deep-seated desire for self-representation.
Dolls are likely the oldest known toys in existence. Every human culture has some type of doll to represent the human form. Aside from being children’s playthings, dolls also serve as power objects, representing ancestral figures and are therefore carriers of culture. Often thought to possess magical powers, in some cultures dolls are used in spiritual rituals and rites of passage.
During the Great Enslavement of Africans in the Americas, dolls were made of rags, nuts, tobacco leaves and corn husks for the enslaved children to play with. Ironically, slave artisans made dolls and other toys for the master’s children as well.
Disk-headed Ashanti Aku’aba fertility doll from Ghana, West Africa.
Black dolls became very popular in 19th century Europe and spawned an industry of papier mâché and bisque-headed dolls by French and German manufacturers. These dolls were mass produced and often advertised as Black or Mulatto.
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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, Jumeau of Paris advertised Black and mixed-race dolls with bisque heads. Gebruder Heubach of Germany made character faces in bisque. Other European doll makers include Bru Jne.
In the early 20th century, American companies began including Black dolls in their lines. Between 1910 and 1930, Horsman, Vogue, and Madame Alexander included Black dolls in their doll lines.
Handmade Dolls: Expressions of Resilience and Creativity
As Dominique Jean-Louis, a public historian at the New-York Historical Society (NYHS), explains, Black and white children growing up in the 19th century often played with handmade Black dolls sewn by their Black caregivers.
“Showing Black children with dolls does additional work ... in underscoring their humanity and their right to be seen as adorable children,” says Jean-Louis. “These are kids worth protecting."
These works are mute about their specific histories, yet every stitch and swatch were a deliberate choice. Dolls of this sort, which have survived without written documentation, fit into a long archaeological history of parental affection, where mothers and fathers would carve, model or sew playthings for their children in the likeness of their own people. They can be found in excavations dating back into prehistory. As societies became more socially and racially stratified, professional dollmakers produced upper class dolls for the wealthy, while those with less wealth continued to make do with homemade models.
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The Dollmakers
The names of these dollmakers often went unrecorded. But three dolls in the exhibition can be attributed to Harriet Jacobs, a writer and abolitionist who spent seven years hiding in a three-foot-tall attic crawl space to evade her abusive enslaver. Jacobs eventually escaped to New York and published an 1861 autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
Jacobs created the dolls for the white daughters of her employer while working as a nanny after her escape. Decades later, in the 1930s, Black dollmaker Leo Moss similarly endowed his dolls with expressive faces, often including small tears that dripped down the toys’ cheeks.
By imbuing their creations with specificity, emotions and dignity, Black dollmakers resisted a racist culture that sought to dehumanize Black people-and made an argument for their own humanity and that of their children.
Dolls made for the Willis family by Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897), circa 1850-60. Mixed fabrics, metal. Private Collection.
Commercial Production and Representation
Politics of representation in playthings came to the fore in the 20th century, as Black entrepreneurs led campaigns to manufacture Black dolls specifically for Black children.
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Black dolls were mass-produced in the 20th century, as American manufacturers started creating the first commercial rag, stuffed and black plastic dolls. In the 1950s, as Beatrice Wright Brewington, a black entrepreneur, founded B Wright’s Toy Company, black dolls entered the global market. Another early black doll company owned and operated by African Americans was Shindana Toys, founded in Los Angeles in 1968.
Louis Smith, the company’s president, once said in an interview that self-love was an important part of creating black dolls. “We believe that only by learning to love oneself can one learn to love others,” he said.
Workers Assembling Dolls at Shindana (1970) by Arthur Levine: Transforming toy aisles Because major toy manufacturers failed to bring Black dolls to the mass market, or sold brown versions of white dolls, Black dollmakers and firms like Shindana Toys produced their own. Since the 1960s, new generations of designers represented Black communities in the toy aisles.
In 1968, activists Louis Smith and Robert Hall formed Shindana Toys to foster “black pride” by creating Black toys and more jobs into the Black community. Shindana manufactured the most complete line of Black dolls until the 1980s.
The Introduction of Black Dolls in Mainstream Lines
Mattel Toys created the first Black dolls in the popular Barbie line, Francie and Christie, in 1967 and 1969 respectively. Pleasant Company, the manufacturer behind the beloved American Girl line of fictional historical characters, debuted its first African American doll in 1993. Addy’s doll-sized accessories included a pink-and-white dress, black lace-up boots, and a bonnet. Like all of American Girl’s historical accessories, Ida Bean was created in consultation with experts.
Mattel hosted a party at the 1991 American International Toy Fair to celebrate Shani & Friends. Designed by Kitty Black Perkins, each doll had her own sculpted face and hair in textures new to Mattel products. The line helped to diversify store shelves.
Stacey McBride-Irby developed Barbie: So In Style, a line of Black fashion dolls released in 2009. Her facial sculpts had fuller lips, wider noses, and more pronounced cheekbones than traditional Barbies. The new Aqua curl technology let girls style and curl the hair.
Malaika (1969) by Shindana Toys
The "Mammy" Image
The "Mammy" is a figure from the history of United States slavery. The female African-American slaves were tasked with the duties of domestic household workers. This tradition continued well after slavery as many African-American women had their first jobs as domestic help.
The "Mammy" image was: An older woman, dark skinned, overweight, whose job it was to prepare meals, clean homes, and nurse and rear children. She was an idealized figure of a caregiver, amiable, loyal, maternal, non-threatening, obedient, and submissive, and demonstrated deference to white authority. This figure is still present in modern times with Mrs. Butterworth's and Aunt Jemima used by food corporations.
This doll is of medium to heavy set build, has bulging eyes, large dark lips, and a medium brown complexion. She wears a bandana, plaid clothes, and an apron, to show that she is a kitchen worker.
Моё новое увлечение в Германии- коллекционирую фарфоровых кукол!История зарождения фарфоровых кукол.
Exhibitions and Collections
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. The Philadelphia Doll Museum was founded in 1988 by Barbara Whiteman.
There are a number of books on the subject including Collectible Black Dolls, by John Axe; Collector’s Encyclopedia of Black Dolls, by Patiki Gibbs; The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls, by Debbie B.
Museumgoers will soon have the chance to see rare examples of these cherished playthings in “Black Dolls,” an exhibition on view at NYHS from February 25 to June 5. Highlights of the exhibition include more than 100 handmade Black cloth dolls on loan from the collection of Deborah Neff.
The exhibition offers insight not only on how children see themselves, but how they bring their own self-confidence into everyday life. “Black dolls have been created in the likeness of past and present historical figures which have played an important role in society,” said Garrett.
I See Me: Reflections in Black Dolls traces the history of black dolls, from porcelain to collectibles and plastic toys. Alongside the 16 Leo Moss dolls are 138 others, including antiques, black Barbie and even some celebrity dolls - created in the image of Serena Williams and the Obamas - which are on view until 25 June.
“The purpose really is to show how dolls empowered African Americans throughout history as a way to see yourself, to empower yourself,” said Jennifer Evans, the assistant curator at the Wright Museum. “Having so many dolls in one place, and for those growing up who couldn’t have a black doll, is very powerful.”
The dolls showcased are on loan from 25 collectors alongside the museum’s own collection, showing the evolution from African dolls to American dolls from the 19th and 20th century to the present day.
