How American Girl\u2019s Melody Ellison doll fits into the long and complicated history of black dolls in America.<\/p>\n
This episode is a part three in a series examining the impact of dolls in American history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How American Girl\u2019s Melody Ellison doll fits into the long and complicated history of black dolls in America. This episode is a part three in a series examining the impact of dolls in American history.","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2018\/06\/Death-and-Numbers-Dolls-Series-Ep-3.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"10.19M","filesize_raw":"10686080","date_recorded":"03-06-2018","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[73,78,79,36,75,74,29,30,37,77,76],"categories":[],"series":[2],"class_list":{"0":"post-50","1":"podcast","2":"type-podcast","3":"status-publish","5":"tag-addy-walker","6":"tag-african","7":"tag-american","8":"tag-american-girl","9":"tag-charles","10":"tag-charles-h-wright-museum-of-african-american-history","11":"tag-dolls","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-melody-ellison","14":"tag-museum","15":"tag-wright","16":"series-death-and-numbers","17":"entry"},"acf":{"related_episodes":"","hosts":[{"ID":584,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_content":"\n
Caroline Pinkston is a PhD candidate in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work brings education into conversation with childhood studies and cultural memory. She holds a B.A. in American Studies and English from Northwestern University (2008), an M.S. in English Education from Lehman College (2010), and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Texas (2014). A former high school English teacher, she has taught and worked in public, private, and nonprofit settings in New York City and Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Caroline Pinkston","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"caroline-pinkston","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_modified_gmt":"2020-06-25 17:31:53","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/?post_type=speaker&p=584","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"guests":"","transcript":"
On an evening in August of 2016, several hundred people gathered for a beautiful celebration
\nat the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit. The event featured
\nfood, music and dolls, lots of dolls. In fact,
\nthe whole event revolved around one doll in particular. Her name is Melody Ellison and
\nshe is the newest release in the B Forever line from the American Girl Company. Tonight,
\nthe trappings of the Detroit Absolute. Because
\nyou the Delta to Detroit. Of course, wonderful people, including about
\ngiggly girls, walking dolls, having father dancing. So
\nwonderful. The celebration at the Wright Museum was only one
\nof several that took place in Detroit to kick off Melody’s debut. Each event featured big turnouts
\nand plenty of press coverage in Detroit and around the country. So why all this fuss
\nfor a doll? Well, for one thing, American Girl B, Forever Dolls are not exactly
\nyour ordinary doll. They’re more like characters at the center of a whole universe of
\nmerchandise and media. Each doll represents a different moment in American history.
\nThere’s some 20 characters to choose from. Like Felicity from the American Revolution or Kit,
\nan aspiring young reporter from the Great Depression. Each character is featured in a series
\nof novels and movies, and you can buy additional outfits and accessories for your doll,
\nall designed to match the appropriate historical moment. Teams of historians and designers
\nwork to ensure maximum accuracy for each doll story and her accompanying products.
\nThese are high end, high quality and highly coveted dolls. But even
\nby the standards of the American girl world, Melody has gotten star treatment
\nto understand why you need to know than American girls. Newest release is the most recent chapter
\nin a long and complicated history of black dolls in America. This history includes
\nlegacies of racism and violence, as well as hope and resistance. On today’s
\nepisode of Death in Numbers, we’ll be tracing that history and exploring how Melody fits into it.
\nI’m Caroline Pinkston.
\nYou can’t talk about the history of black dolls without also addressing the history of race and racism in
\nthe United States. Historian Robin Bernstein has traced these intertwined histories and her
\nbook Racial Innocence Showing How Black Dolls helped reinforce white supremacy in 19th
\ncentury America. Many black dolls were produced by white companies and purchased by white
\nchildren, and they often represented the worst of the era’s racist beliefs. Many
\nearly black dolls were a little better than racist caricatures, and they were often used to reenact racist
\nstorylines. White children often treated their black dolls violently by whipping them, beating
\nthem and hanging them. Sometimes advertisments for the dolls explicitly encouraged
\nthis kind of play. Not surprisingly, black communities push back against these
\nracist depictions by the early nineteen hundreds. Black dolls had become an important part of
\nwhat’s called the new Negro Movement, which fought to counteract racist stereotypes and promote black self-esteem.
\nBoth Marcus Garvey and Booker T Washington promoted manufacturing black dolls to help instill
\nself-respect and self-esteem and young black girls. In 1911, R.
\nH. Boyd founded the National Negro Doll Company to help do just that. Publications
\nfrom the Chicago Defender to the NAACP is Crisis magazine ran advertising that explicitly
\ntied the purchase of black dolls to the cause of racial justice. But in the early
\nmaking them prohibitively expensive for many families. By the mid 20th century, though,
\nmass production of plastics opened up all kinds of new possibilities for toy manufacturers
\nand dolls were no exception. But mass produced dolls raised new issues.
\nThe few black dolls produced by mainstream toy companies were often made from the same mold as white
\ndolls and simply dyed a different color. In the 1960s and 70s, a number
\nof black owned companies produced dolls with names and physical characteristics. More representative of the African-American
\ncommunity. But these producers didn’t often have the reach or the resources of massive toy
\ncompanies like Mattel and Black dolls produced by these toy giants remained rare.
\nMattel didn’t issue its first official black Barbie until the 1970s.
\nAccordingly, the few black dolls manufactured by mainstream toy producers took on increased
\nimportance. If a toy store or magazine presented an infinite variety of white dolls
\nbut only a handful of black options, these dolls took on a heavy weight of representation
\nfor the children of all races that might purchase them. Did they represent adequately the fullness and
\nvariety of black life? Did they encourage play that was expansive and imaginative or
\nlimiting? Did they reinforce or resist stereotypes? These questions
\nmade black dolls, the center of public conversation, and the answers were frequently unsatisfying.
\nThese histories of racism, resistance and representation should be important considerations for any
\ntoy company that makes dolls, but American girls be forever dolls are explicitly designed
\nto represent and teach American history. So when American Girl produced its first black
\nhistorical doll, A-T in 1993, she not only had to represent black
\ndolls, she also had to represent black history. As writer Aisha
\nHarris notes in an article for Slate, Addie was designed through consultation with a team of experts
\nwho decided to place her in the Civil War era, giving her a backstory as a former slave who escapes
\nto freedom in the north with her mother. This context was far from arbitrary.
\nRather, the advisory team was determined to provide Addie with a story that represented a crucial moment
\nin African-American history. But there was also empowering. The team paid careful attention
\nto the smallest details of Atreus physical characteristics and her clothing and accessories
\nfrom the texture of her hair to the cowry shell necklace she would wear. The team also debated
\nbig picture questions like How would they represent the history of slavery in a way that was appropriate
\nand accessible for American girls young audience without glossing over its horrors.
\nAddy is still available from American Girl today. Since our creation, she has been one of the company’s
\nmost beloved dolls, but she has also been the center of controversy. In
\npart, this controversy stems from add his role as the only black doll available from the Beat Forever line
\nbeginning in 2011, American Girl briefly offered another black character, a wealthy girl
\nliving in 19th century New Orleans, but she was archived in 2014.
\nThat means that Addie might be a beautiful, carefully crafted doll, but she still represents a big problem.
\nIn a 2015 essay for The Paris Review, writer Brett Bennett put it this way
\nIf you were a white girl who wanted a historical doll who looked like you, you could imagine yourself
\nin Samantha’s Victorian home or with Kirsten weathering life on the prairie if you
\nwere a black girl. You could only picture yourself as a runaway slave.
\nWith the debut of Melodee, American Girl expands the moments in African-American history the children can
\nimagine, Melody’s character, like Addie’s, was carefully crafted. Detroit
\nwas chosen intentionally. Here’s how a press release from American Girl explained the choice
\nas an important city in the civil rights movement. Melody’s hometown of Detroit was selected to showcase one
\nof the country’s most vibrant and thriving black communities of the era, with more independent, black
\nowned businesses like Motown Records than any other location in the country, as well as home
\nto one of the largest chapters of the NAACP. The Detroit location also hopes young
\nreaders understand the struggle for civil rights was not just an issue in the South and that African-Americans
\nthroughout the United States faced racial inequality and discrimination.
\nMelody was also developed in conjunction with a truly all star advisory board to ensure historical
\naccuracy. The six member team that worked on her character included the legendary Julian Bond,
\nfounding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. One of the more the founding executive director
\nof the National Civil Rights Museum and renowned historian Thomas Sugrue, among other important
\nscholars and activists. Does all this care and hardwork mean that melody will be
\nexempt from the kind of scrutiny and controversy that has accompanied other black dolls? Probably not.
\nBut in press releases and interviews, American girl representatives have stressed that they are paying attention to
\nmore than just the history that Melody represents. They’re also stressing the kind of effect she’ll have
\non young girls who play with her today. In 2018, the president of American Girl said,
\nWe’re proud to introduce Melody and hope she’ll serve as an important role model to girls, giving them the courage
\nto use their voices to speak up about what they believe in. Even when it’s not easy to do
\na concept that’s just as important today as it was over 50 years ago.
\nMelody’s character is new, but in some ways the role she plays is an old one. She’s part
\nof a long struggle to create and produce black dolls that are empowering and realistic role models for
\nyoung girls. She’s certainly not the final chapter in that struggle, but based on her reception
\nat the kickoff events in Detroit, she’s off to a good start with her most important audience. Little
\ngirls. She’s from the 1960s.
\nLike everything.
\nThis has been Death A numbers, a podcast created and produced by the Humanities Media Project and the College
\nof Liberal Arts at U.T. Austin and Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services. I’m
\nCaroline Pinkston. Notes for the show, including links and photos can be found on our Web site. Humanity’s
\nmedia project dot org. Our theme music is enthusiast by tourists. Thank you for listening.<\/p>\n"},"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2018\/03\/DeathandNumbers.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/podcast-download\/50\/dolls-the-history-of-black-dolls.mp3","player_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/death-and-numbers\/podcast-player\/50\/dolls-the-history-of-black-dolls.mp3","audio_player":"