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Produced in Germany and France, countries that dominated the porcelain and bisque doll industry. The occasional black dolls portrayed the “exotic beauty” of dancers or opera characters.
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R.H. Boyd started National Negro Doll Company where he imported elegant black porcelain dolls from European dollmakers and selling them in the US.
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From the early-to-mid 1900s, many doll companies chose the name, Topsy, for black dolls and incorporated a minimum of three braids or tufts of hair on the dolls' heads in an effort to portray the book's character. Ralph A. Freundlich, Inc.'s Goo-Goo Topsy (1937-1940s) with molded curls and Nancy Ann Storybook's (NASB) 1950s Topsy were both maids/servants/companions to the companies' white dolls, Eva and Eva, respectively.
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Ruth and Elliot marry. They also begin production in the first garage workshop where Elliot made lamps, picture frames, hand mirrors from Lucite. Ruth was sure she could sell them. Forced to stop working in the garage. Elliot found a tiny place in LA—3030 W. Olympic Blvd. This would become their first workshop. Harrold “Matt” Matson made the oven that Elliot needed to work and became a part of production.
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Harrold "Matt" and Elliot come up with their name-- Matt + El = Mattel. They move their operation to 6058 Western Ave after their first $6000 big order.
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Suddenly, vinyl and hard plastic dolls were cheap and easy to churn out of the factory. But the mass-production of plastic dolls was so streamlined that, for manufacturers, making special molds of dolls with African American features seemed like an unnecessary cost. That's why most of the vinyl and hard plastic dolls were white. The black dolls that were sold by companies like Horsman or Terri Lee were most often white dolls painted brown or dipped in brown dye.
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Black Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls' Historical Significance:
Early 20th Century dolls manufactured by a female entrepreneur.
Black and white dolls share the same molds.
Black dolls' facial features are not stereotypical, unlike many early 20th Century black dolls that had exaggerated facial features.
Black dolls are characteristically stereotypical, depicting blacks as subservient, which was the norm during the 1930s through 1950s. -
Sara Lee Creech took 500 photos of black children in order to make the first non-painted brown doll called the Sara Lee Doll.
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First doll not painted brown or dipped in brown dye
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The most famous vinyl doll, Barbie is released on March 9th. Controversial because of her womanish figure.
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Barbie soon leads Mattel to the forefront of the toy industry
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Mattel issued a Francie doll as a black woman, but she didn’t sell well
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Mattel produced another black fashion doll, Christie, probably made from an altered mold of Barbie’s less-glamorous white friend, Midge, who was accepted as Barbie’s pal.
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Mattel introduced the Julia, inspired by the TV show “Julia,” in which Diahann Carrol played a widowed black nurse.
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Mattel released Cara a beautiful ballerina that came with a beautiful tiara and a pink tutu.
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Mattel introduces the official Barbie with black skin—BLACK BARBIE. She came with a red business suit and to many, resembled Felicia Rashad, TV's then super mom, Claire Huxtable. Since then, Black Barbie has stood beside her original in varying skin tones, facial features and hair styles to resemble and reflect African Americans.
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