Dolls are probably the oldest known toys in existence, with every human culture having 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.
The original Barbie appeared in toy stores in 1959. She wore a black-and-white bathing suit with her blond hair in a ponytail. Since then, Barbie has evolved significantly, embracing diversity and cultural representation. This article explores the rich history of the Ghana Barbie doll, tracing its roots from traditional African dolls to modern-day iterations.
Akuaba fertility doll from Ghana, West Africa.
Traditional African Dolls: A Cultural Foundation
If we go way back, to the little girl's great and great-great grandmothers, and look in the context of traditional African culture, at this time dolls were not specifically considered children's playthings, Instead dolls were valued objects that held ritual and religious importance. Dolls were often considered to have a spiritual energy and used for ceremonial purposes often to do with fertility and marriage. Dolls were used to teach and entertain, or given as precursor's to marriage and birth. Dolls such as the Akua'ba dolls of Ghana and the Namji dolls of Cameron are beautiful examples of traditional African doll culture and these dolls are still made and in use today.
For example, the disk-shaped head Aku’aba dolls of the Ashanti people of Ghana in West Africa are worn by women to ensure fertility and a beautiful healthy baby. They also become playthings for the children when they are born. In Nigeria, the Yoruba create Ibeji dolls; the word “ibeji” means twins. To us at The Cornrow, this traditional African way of relating to dolls seems far more meaningful and less consumerist that today's doll culture and another beautiful element of the Black traditional female experience that becoming lost in modern society. In at my home, 'Cottage Noir' have a beautiful Aku'aba doll in my sitting room emitting her feminine divine energy!
Read also: Baskets from Ghana
With the advent of colonialism and independence, unsurprisingly African doll culture took a huge turn. In terns of doll culture, now little girls wanted dolls as playthings (which of course is fair enough!). They were also happy for dolls that looked like the western beauty standards that were being imported.
The Introduction of Black Dolls in the Barbie Universe
The story of how clonette dolls came to be is fascinating. As told by historian Catherine McKinley, it was a Indian plastic manufacturer based in Ghana who created the dolls as a gift for his female market traders. Manufactured in Ghana and exported across the whole of West Africa, clonette dolls were plastic, often vibrantly coloured dolls which became an unmistakable feature of urban life in West Africa in the 1960s and 70s. Looking at the dolls, they seem completely different to what you would expect little West African girls to play with, little bob cuts, holding a rabbit with European features! However they proved extremely popular, they were cheap and readily available and they created a satisfying squeak when pressed.
Lady Dei Dei heralded a new era of dolls made and consumed for Black girls which did not represent them. But what is next for traditional African doll culture? How can this be modernised and made to stay relevant? Well The Cornrow was delighted to discover Noush dolls . These are dolls designed by Belgian artist Anoushka and created by a South African artisan called Blessing. Noush dolls take the traditional Clonette dolls and place them firmly in the contemporary African space. We think these "Noush" dolls do a wonderful job of reclaiming some of the spiritual, reverential energy of the traditional African doll but placing her firmly in the context of modern living.
While Christie is often considered the figure to come out of Mattel with a darker skin tone, the company released Barbie’s friend Francie in 1967, before Christie would arrive on the scene. Francie and Christie were advertised as Barbie’s friends in an attempt to create a racially diverse Barbie world. Though they lived in the icon’s plastic world, they were just a shadow of existence compared to Barbie.
The Ghana Barbie: A Symbol of Cultural Pride
In 1967, the first coloured Barbie was created 8 years after the first Barbie was created.
Read also: Ghanaian Business Profile: Franko Trading
The DOTW Ghanian Barbie is part of a series of dolls done by Mattel called Dolls of the World (DOTW). She was produced in 1996 and was preceded by Nigerian - 1990, Jamaican--1991/1992 and Kenyan - 1994 (previously posted). She wears a Kente over dress and a matching headdress. She has gold earrings and a lovely gold pendant. Under the Kente, she wears a simple yellow shift dress.
Ghana Barbie doll in traditional Kente cloth.
The back of the box says:Hello, I'm a Ghanaian Barbie. I'd like to tell you all about my wonderful homeland, Ghana! Situated on the coast in Western Africa, Ghana was once called the Gold Coast, but at our independence in 1957, it was renamed Ghana, after anancient empire. Hand-woven cloth, called Kente cloth, is Ghana's most famous craft product. Its bright colors and patterns are woven by Ashanti tribe men and are worn for special ceremonial occasions. We are also proud of our wood carving skills and we make many interesting masks for religious and native ceremonies. Ghana is a wonderful country to include in your travels. Our country is lovely and filled with many things to see and do. I hope to see you soon! Goodbye! She uses one of the 1990 (released in 1991) Shani doll head mold. Of the three head molds of the Shani line, Asha, Shani and Nichelle, Asha is used the most. Nichelle is a little less used but surprisingly Shani, the doll the line is named for, is very rarely used.
Tour the wilds of Africa with this Collector Edition Barbie doll in a traditional costume from the West African country of Ghana. She wears an authentically styled Kente cloth tunic dress that ties into a bow below her knees. A brightly colored turban ties around her head and she wears flat golden sandals for walking through the lush forests.
Key Figures in Diversifying the Barbie Line
Kitty Black Perkins is renowned in the toy industry for designing the first-ever Black Barbie and was a pioneer who helped diversify the mega-popular doll franchise. Perkins created a bold, red bodysuit with a wrap-and-snap disco skirt, a modernist necklace, and hoop and dangle earrings. Black Perkins received Mattel’s Chairman’s Award, the highest recognition bestowed upon a Mattel employee, twice in 1985 and 1987.
Read also: Ghana Soccer Jersey
The Marvelous World of Shani, also known as Shani & Friends, launched in 1991, and it was Mattel’s first attempt to produce more ethnically correct black dolls with accurate Afrocentric features, varying shades of skin tones to represent the diversity of skin color in the black community, and varying hair colors and textures. The line initially debuted with three characters, Shana, Asha, and Nichelle.
Evolution of Diversity and Inclusion
By the time 2015 came around, Mattel found more ways to be inclusive - this time introducing Barbies with different body types and characteristics to help people feel more seen in the toy industry. As part of Barbie’s Tribute Collection, which launched in 2020 to highlight cultural trailblazers, the iconic brand created a signature Barbie doll for Laverne Cox, a Black trans actress, to honor the impact she’s made not only in her pioneering career but also for the continued work she’s done to champion LGBTQ+ rights.
In 2020, Barbie received a Black History Month revamp with costume designs from celebrity stylist Shiona Turini, the costume designer for Queen & Slim. In 2021, Barbie Roberts, also known as Brooklyn, was introduced as Barbie’s friend.
Here's a brief timeline of key Black Barbie dolls and their significance:
| Year | Doll | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Colored Francie | First doll in the Mattel line with a dark complexion. |
| 1968 | Julia | Doll based on the TV sitcom about a widowed single mother and registered nurse. |
| 1975 | Cara | Introduced in two versions: Quick Curl Cara and Free Moving Cara. |
| 1991 | Shani & Friends | First attempt to produce more ethnically correct black dolls with accurate Afrocentric features. |
| 1996 | Ghana Barbie | Wears an authentically styled Kente cloth tunic dress and turban. |
| 1996 | Nicole "Nikki" O'Neil | First appeared as the best friend of Skipper, Barbie's younger sister. |
| 1999 | Brandy doll | First released in 1999. |
| 2021 | Barbie "Brooklyn" Roberts | Introduced as Barbie's friend. |
The Impact of Positive Representation
Thankfully, for the little Black girls of today, the doll of her dreams is easily available at the click of an Amazon button or a quick trip to the shopping mall. Dolls representing our every hue and all aspects of our Black girl magic are now readily available- vitiligo doll, dolls that cry with 4c afros, hell Barbie even does a Maya Angelou Barbie doll now! However we don't need to look far back in time to see many different stories about little Black girls and their dolls as the history of Black dolls is very interesting and multi-faceted.
Unfortunately until the mid-1960s, it was rare for Black parents to find affordable, positive Black dolls for their children’s special Christmas presents. The manufacturers then began to introduce Black versions of Barbie, Chatty Cathy and Patty Play Pal. Black action figures also became available around the same time, such as G.I.
The continuous onslaught of negative imagery in popular visual culture has further cemented these attitudes about standards of beauty and self-worth for African-American children. This calls to mind the character of Pecola Breedlove in Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye. Pecola so wanted to be loved that she thought if only her eyes were blue she would be accepted.
Nashormeh Lindo is a doll collector and a fount of knowledge on the subject. According to this curator, artist, and educator, “A doll can be seen as an innocent plaything, a cultural marker, or a work of art. All children play (and some adults too!) To play is to learn. In the exhibition Dolls: Collections, Stories, Traditions, an issue that Lindo wanted to explore was the under-representation of positive images reflecting the Black experience in the mainstream toy and doll industry, as well as the socio-historical implications of that fact.
College students hold Black baby doll drive to raise girls' self-esteem
Dolls have also been used in social experimentation and to effect political change. For example the groundbreaking studies and “doll” experiments, conducted in the 1940s by psychologists, Drs Kenneth and Mamie Clark, played a pivotal role in Thurgood Marshall’s arguments during the famous Brown vs The Board of Education Supreme Court decision that led to the legal desegregation of America’s public schools in 1954. The experiments, designed to study children’s attitudes about race, clearly showed that when given a choice between dolls identical apart from their color, the majority of children chose the White dolls and shunned the Black ones. The experiment was repeated recently by documentary film maker Kiri Davis, in her 2006 award-winning film, A Girl Like Me. Sadly, it revealed that many attitudes have remained the same. The majority of the subjects in her film still chose the White dolls over the Black ones. The reasons they cited, again, are the associations of White dolls being “pretty” or “good” and the Black dolls “ugly” or “bad.”
The Barbie movie is a mega-hit with a stellar marketing campaign, raking in $360 million worldwide over its opening weekend, making it the biggest movie premiere of the year. In the film, Issa Rae, a Black actor who is known for her entrepreneurial endeavors, plays President Barbie, a role that has yet to be occupied by a woman in the real world.
Museums and Collections
The Philadelphia Doll museum, founded in 1988, is an educational and cultural resource center dedicated to the preservation of doll history. It houses a collection of over 300 Black dolls and a library that highlights the story of how African people have been perceived throughout the world, through the representation of dolls. The Kimbrough family collection of Afro-Americana, located in Los Angeles, also includes a doll collection; and the Arabella Grayson Collection features 200 years of Black paper dolls, which have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute.
Visitors to San Francisco should seek out the Sargent Johnson Gallery, a hidden gem within the African American Art & Culture Complex, which is itself in a residential area not far from City Hall. Melorra Green, Visual Arts Coordinator, explains, “The doll exhibition is one that will certainly leave its mark at the African American Art & Culture Complex. Through the guidance and vision of curator Nashormeh Lindo, we were able to provide both educational and creative opportunities for people of various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds to learn about themselves and dolls of the African Diaspora.
Popular articles:
tags: #Ghana
