Where - To Go Wednesday - Black Dolls

We were given complimentary tickets to the Black Dolls exhibit a the New York Historical Society for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed are our own.

What: Black Dolls

Where: New York Historical Society

              170 Central Park W.

               New York, NY

Who: All ages

When: Through June 5, 2022

             

Me -The Black Dolls exhibit at the New York Historical Society was fascinating. It was interesting to look at all the different dolls. Some of them had really cute outfits, and some were made out of interesting materials.

It was sad that so many of the dolls were made by slaves. It was sad to think that the people were probably treated worse than the dolls. They were treated less like humans than dolls were. There was even a poster on display offering a reward for the capture of a runaway slave who was only 21 years old.

There were a lot of pictures of children with dolls. Many of them were of black children with white dolls, or white children with black dolls. That seemed surprising for the time period covered by the exhibit. There was also an exhibit that showed the dolls that they used for this experiment which proved that separate but equal was not equal. It had something to do with black children consistently picking white dolls when given the choice to pick between a black and a white doll.

There were some dolls that were black on one side and white on the other. If you flipped the dress over the doll's head, the other doll would be revealed. They even had some more modern dolls like a Black Barbie. I really enjoyed seeing all the dolls in this exhibit, it reminded me of when was I little and my sister and I used to love playing with our dolls.

Mom - The Black dolls exhibit currently on display at the New York Historical Society is more than just a nostalgic display of playthings. It is an examination of race, culture, and history. The majority of the dolls were made during the 19th century. They were made by Black women who were mostly slaves. The dolls were not only made for Black children, however, many of them were made for the White children of the household as well. In addition to the dolls themselves, the exhibit include numerous pictures of children with their dolls, doll patents, doll making materials and more. 

Some of the highlights of the exhibit are the three dolls handmade by Harriet Jacobs who wrote the memoir, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and three dolls which ressemble White porcelain dolls  made by Leo Moss . The small section of the exhibit devoted to newer dolls includes dolls made by the mother of Chirlane McCray, the former First Lady of the City of New York.  These dolls were made to represent her three daughters. This section also includes Christie, a Black barbie doll that was introduced in 1968 as well as Addie, a Black American girl doll and several other dolls.

And that's our view. For more information about the exhibit visit history.org/exhibitions/black-dolls for more information about  the New York Historical Society in general, or to purchase tickets to visit the New York Historical Society, visit www.nyhistory.org.

Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.