Dolls: The History of Black Dolls

On an evening in August of 2016, several hundred people gathered for a beautiful celebration
at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit. The event featured
food, music and dolls, lots of dolls. In fact,
the whole event revolved around one doll in particular. Her name is Melody Ellison and
she is the newest release in the B Forever line from the American Girl Company. Tonight,
the trappings of the Detroit Absolute. Because
you the Delta to Detroit. Of course, wonderful people, including about
giggly girls, walking dolls, having father dancing. So
wonderful. The celebration at the Wright Museum was only one
of several that took place in Detroit to kick off Melody’s debut. Each event featured big turnouts
and plenty of press coverage in Detroit and around the country. So why all this fuss
for a doll? Well, for one thing, American Girl B, Forever Dolls are not exactly
your ordinary doll. They’re more like characters at the center of a whole universe of
merchandise and media. Each doll represents a different moment in American history.
There’s some 20 characters to choose from. Like Felicity from the American Revolution or Kit,
an aspiring young reporter from the Great Depression. Each character is featured in a series
of novels and movies, and you can buy additional outfits and accessories for your doll,
all designed to match the appropriate historical moment. Teams of historians and designers
work to ensure maximum accuracy for each doll story and her accompanying products.
These are high end, high quality and highly coveted dolls. But even
by the standards of the American girl world, Melody has gotten star treatment
to understand why you need to know than American girls. Newest release is the most recent chapter
in a long and complicated history of black dolls in America. This history includes
legacies of racism and violence, as well as hope and resistance. On today’s
episode of Death in Numbers, we’ll be tracing that history and exploring how Melody fits into it.
I’m Caroline Pinkston.
You can’t talk about the history of black dolls without also addressing the history of race and racism in
the United States. Historian Robin Bernstein has traced these intertwined histories and her
book Racial Innocence Showing How Black Dolls helped reinforce white supremacy in 19th
century America. Many black dolls were produced by white companies and purchased by white
children, and they often represented the worst of the era’s racist beliefs. Many
early black dolls were a little better than racist caricatures, and they were often used to reenact racist
storylines. White children often treated their black dolls violently by whipping them, beating
them and hanging them. Sometimes advertisments for the dolls explicitly encouraged
this kind of play. Not surprisingly, black communities push back against these
racist depictions by the early nineteen hundreds. Black dolls had become an important part of
what’s called the new Negro Movement, which fought to counteract racist stereotypes and promote black self-esteem.
Both Marcus Garvey and Booker T Washington promoted manufacturing black dolls to help instill
self-respect and self-esteem and young black girls. In 1911, R.
H. Boyd founded the National Negro Doll Company to help do just that. Publications
from the Chicago Defender to the NAACP is Crisis magazine ran advertising that explicitly
tied the purchase of black dolls to the cause of racial justice. But in the early
making them prohibitively expensive for many families. By the mid 20th century, though,
mass production of plastics opened up all kinds of new possibilities for toy manufacturers
and dolls were no exception. But mass produced dolls raised new issues.
The few black dolls produced by mainstream toy companies were often made from the same mold as white
dolls and simply dyed a different color. In the 1960s and 70s, a number
of black owned companies produced dolls with names and physical characteristics. More representative of the African-American
community. But these producers didn’t often have the reach or the resources of massive toy
companies like Mattel and Black dolls produced by these toy giants remained rare.
Mattel didn’t issue its first official black Barbie until the 1970s.
Accordingly, the few black dolls manufactured by mainstream toy producers took on increased
importance. If a toy store or magazine presented an infinite variety of white dolls
but only a handful of black options, these dolls took on a heavy weight of representation
for the children of all races that might purchase them. Did they represent adequately the fullness and
variety of black life? Did they encourage play that was expansive and imaginative or
limiting? Did they reinforce or resist stereotypes? These questions
made black dolls, the center of public conversation, and the answers were frequently unsatisfying.
These histories of racism, resistance and representation should be important considerations for any
toy company that makes dolls, but American girls be forever dolls are explicitly designed
to represent and teach American history. So when American Girl produced its first black
historical doll, A-T in 1993, she not only had to represent black
dolls, she also had to represent black history. As writer Aisha
Harris notes in an article for Slate, Addie was designed through consultation with a team of experts
who decided to place her in the Civil War era, giving her a backstory as a former slave who escapes
to freedom in the north with her mother. This context was far from arbitrary.
Rather, the advisory team was determined to provide Addie with a story that represented a crucial moment
in African-American history. But there was also empowering. The team paid careful attention
to the smallest details of Atreus physical characteristics and her clothing and accessories
from the texture of her hair to the cowry shell necklace she would wear. The team also debated
big picture questions like How would they represent the history of slavery in a way that was appropriate
and accessible for American girls young audience without glossing over its horrors.
Addy is still available from American Girl today. Since our creation, she has been one of the company’s
most beloved dolls, but she has also been the center of controversy. In
part, this controversy stems from add his role as the only black doll available from the Beat Forever line
beginning in 2011, American Girl briefly offered another black character, a wealthy girl
living in 19th century New Orleans, but she was archived in 2014.
That means that Addie might be a beautiful, carefully crafted doll, but she still represents a big problem.
In a 2015 essay for The Paris Review, writer Brett Bennett put it this way
If you were a white girl who wanted a historical doll who looked like you, you could imagine yourself
in Samantha’s Victorian home or with Kirsten weathering life on the prairie if you
were a black girl. You could only picture yourself as a runaway slave.
With the debut of Melodee, American Girl expands the moments in African-American history the children can
imagine, Melody’s character, like Addie’s, was carefully crafted. Detroit
was chosen intentionally. Here’s how a press release from American Girl explained the choice
as an important city in the civil rights movement. Melody’s hometown of Detroit was selected to showcase one
of the country’s most vibrant and thriving black communities of the era, with more independent, black
owned businesses like Motown Records than any other location in the country, as well as home
to one of the largest chapters of the NAACP. The Detroit location also hopes young
readers understand the struggle for civil rights was not just an issue in the South and that African-Americans
throughout the United States faced racial inequality and discrimination.
Melody was also developed in conjunction with a truly all star advisory board to ensure historical
accuracy. The six member team that worked on her character included the legendary Julian Bond,
founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. One of the more the founding executive director
of the National Civil Rights Museum and renowned historian Thomas Sugrue, among other important
scholars and activists. Does all this care and hardwork mean that melody will be
exempt from the kind of scrutiny and controversy that has accompanied other black dolls? Probably not.
But in press releases and interviews, American girl representatives have stressed that they are paying attention to
more than just the history that Melody represents. They’re also stressing the kind of effect she’ll have
on young girls who play with her today. In 2018, the president of American Girl said,
We’re proud to introduce Melody and hope she’ll serve as an important role model to girls, giving them the courage
to use their voices to speak up about what they believe in. Even when it’s not easy to do
a concept that’s just as important today as it was over 50 years ago.
Melody’s character is new, but in some ways the role she plays is an old one. She’s part
of a long struggle to create and produce black dolls that are empowering and realistic role models for
young girls. She’s certainly not the final chapter in that struggle, but based on her reception
at the kickoff events in Detroit, she’s off to a good start with her most important audience. Little
girls. She’s from the 1960s.
Like everything.
This has been Death A numbers, a podcast created and produced by the Humanities Media Project and the College
of Liberal Arts at U.T. Austin and Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services. I’m
Caroline Pinkston. Notes for the show, including links and photos can be found on our Web site. Humanity’s
media project dot org. Our theme music is enthusiast by tourists. Thank you for listening.