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Black history through lens of thousands of historic dolls
Mama's Attic displays over 3,000 dolls tracing Black history from dehumanizing caricatures to humanized representations, reflecting evolving cultural awareness, founder says.
- In Omaha, Mama's Attic displays more than 3,000 dolls across three rooms, which LaVon Stennis-Williams says began to honor her mother's Black-history collection.
- Rooted in a personal archive, the collection grew from Stennis-Williams' mother, who collected Aunt Jemima and Mammy figurines, which she says, `She felt we should not be ashamed of this lady.`
- The display traces doll-making from 1800s sock dolls to the first Black Barbie created in 1980, including a Barbie annex and Jackie Ormes' Patty-Jo collaboration.
- Displaying caricature figurines has prompted intergenerational debate as museum visitors and donors question if such items belong in homes or museums, while a newspaper clipping about desegregation highlights the museum's educational mission.
- Stennis-Williams frames contested images as connected to enslaved women's roles in the Underground Railroad, urging the community to reflect and unite, saying `Working together, we can evolve into a more wholesome America`.
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25 Articles
25 Articles
Black history through lens of thousands of historic dolls
Cartoonist Jackie Ormes went to Lincoln, Nebraska, to create a doll with the Terri Lee Doll Company, "called Patty-Jo that was to honor her main character in her news, in her comic strip called Torchy Brown," LaVon Stennis-Williams said.
·Baltimore, United States
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