There are fewer than 12 hours left in Black History Month, so as a final send-off, here are fewer than 12 of my favorite black dolls I had growing up.
(Black) Totally Hair Barbie
Because black girls look better in neon than anyone else.
Sun Man, Pig-Head, and Hypno
Because Sun Man has a necklace made out of wings, Hypno has a bracelet made out of bird, Pig-Head had an electric blue and pink shield, and all three were nice enough to let the girl dolls wear their amazing accessories.
Michael Jackson Doll
Because the Michael Jackson Thriller Doll was my first boyfriend. And because while I was researching this ("researching!") I found this picture:
... which is the doll equivalent of when this happened:
(Black) My Buddy
Because this doll was exactly as terrifying as the white My Buddy that my cousin had, which taught us an important lesson about equality.
Florence "Flo Jo" Griffith Joyner Doll
Because any doll that wears a one-legged sleeveless bodysuit AND comes with her own gold tote bag AND stickers for you to put on your nails clearly runs circles around all other dolls.
Superstar Christie Fashion Face
Because when I asked my sister to help me with this post, she told me that she used to have nightmares that "the one that was just a head with hair" would run across the front lawn on spindly legs to give her a hug, which is ridiculous.
Naomi Fashion Doll
Because, braids. And style. And serious swag.
Talking Urkel Doll
Because Urkel invented Kanye West, in a way, and also invented my entire sense of humor.
Addy Walker, American Girl
Because when Addy hit the scene, a bunch of other little girls and I were soooo excited to finally have one of these stupid dolls of our own, even if we were kinda "nice one, guys" about the only black America Girl Doll being a runaway slave who survived on gourdfulls of water and stale cornbread.
Honorable Mention
Because Native American Barbie rocked fringe and turquoise harder than an Urban Outfitters catalog.
Dishonorable Mention
You're doing it wrong.
Sachar Mathias barely has any time to play with dolls anymore.
Oh American Girl dolls were wrapped in cliche.
Yeah, but if you read the books when you were little, they were a really good first introduction to a lot of historical issues.
Fact: One of those Urkel dolls lives on my bookshelf.
My mom has an Urkel doll, he chills on a chair with Pee Wee, Mr. Magoo, Mimi (from Drew Carey) and a bunch of other really random dolls she's found at yard sales. There is also Doug, Ed Grimley, Ernest. Generally dolls that no one wanted, ever.
I was prepared for a terrifying visualization of the spider-legged hugging head, but then d'awwwww, it was actually kind of cute! Then you sucker punched me with that final monstrosity. Next stop: NIGHTMARES.
I had one of those American Girl dolls you could customize to look more like you, but none of those bitches had curly hair. So I guess that's not the best Black doll I had as a kid - more just a really expensive way to disappoint a horrible little brat.
Best Black doll? A pregnant Black Barbie-type doll whose stomach popped off. It came with three tiny dolls that would fit inside. All I remember is using pipe cleaners to make Cupid outfits for the babies, sticking them in a diorama for 3rd or 4th grade, and never seeing them again.
Happy Black History Month!!!
I HAD ONE OF THOSE DOPPLEGANGER DOLLS TOO!! AHH!! Only it was extra creepy because mine looked EXACTLY like me. I was terrified of it. When I went to bed, I would make it face the wall so it wouldn't eat my eyes out while I was sleeping. soooo.weridd.d..dd..d
Fun post! I used to love those American Girl catalogs when they came out, but I never owned a doll. I had the black version of The Heart Family dolls (the kiss and cuddle edition, in the red outfits), a black premie Cabbage Patch kid and when Barbie had their United Colors of Benetton series, I got the black one Christie. I'm sure my mom has them all somewhere. :-D
My sister's favorite doll growing up in the 60s was one of the "Sasha" dolls, which were designed to look like a mixture of all the world's races (although she recently told me that a friend once asked her, "why do you have a black doll?" and that she'd never actually thought about it before the question was asked).
It looked like this: http://www.dcai.com/sasha/ It's actually a really beautiful doll, isn't it?
I still have my Addy doll! I used to get really weird looks from the stuck up rich prissy girls with American Girl dolls when they asked me which one I had (I'm white). They never wanted to play dolls with me after I told them :(
AHHH! we had all of these. Lest you forget original black barbie!
Yes, she came with the afro pick. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/2076106701_0d61e5b3a0.jpg
I was going to say "you left out the Iman doll!" but I can't find evidence of her existence anywhere on the interwebs. I swear I had an Iman barbie-like doll that came with a fierce neon aztec blanket parka, a fur hat, goggles, a sled and a husky. If I am, indeed, creating this out of thin air then I love my brain.
Perhaps you are thinking of the Imani doll, which I found here while looking for info on Sun-Man and friends because they are amazing and I may spend the rest of my life staring at them.
The last doll on the page was one of those topsy turvy dolls where they had a dress on and you flipped the dress over one dolls face and it looked like another doll.
I am STILL laughing about the head with hair running across your lawn on spindly legs.
When I was 3 I asked my mom for a "chocolate doll" for my birthday, and to my disappointment she bought me an actual doll made out of chocolate. Which is a pretty awesome present, in retrospect, but all I wanted was a black Cabbage Patch Doll! How hard is that to understand!
Brilliant! And thank you.
I had that Joey McIntire fashion doll. Oh, my God.
I had a doctor Christie doll, black My Buddy and BRANDYYY!!!!!! omg her orange pants and neck feather shit were soooo fucking cool. and her makeup was kinda gold and shimmery. note I am not black and have no real explanation for why I had these other than BRANDY WAS THE SHIIIT.