A Black Doll’s Reflection on Representation
I wasn’t emancipated with you, nor you with yourselves
I (we) continued to be clothed in dressings of oppression
Painted on absorbent canvasses of inhumanity
Chained to memories of an antebellum past
Whipped by leathered notions of inferiority
Still, there were illustrations of us that expressed freedom
Representations of you matter
Your mother stitched and adorned me with cast-offs from her labor
I was beloved by you and the “other” children under whom she labored
There were many versions of me, made by your mother
Representing real and aspiring identities
There were versions of me, made by your mother
Representing imposed identities and restricted aspirations
Representations of you matter
I was told that you didn’t want me, that you wouldn’t choose me
Historically, I have meant many things to you, for you, despite you, to spite you
Technologies mass-produced artifacts of me
Articulating portrayals of acceptance and denial of you, by others
Technologies mass-produced artifacts of me – embodying you
Articulating portrayals of acceptance and denial of self, by you
Representations of you matter
Roads of propaganda and protest paved my evolution
You patterned me with your hands
Cutting, folding, and bending me along the perforated edges of your histories
Pulling threads originally stitched by the ancestors into and across your generations
Stuffing me with materials of affirmations
Impressing your fingers into my body to mold me
You manufactured me to represent you
Mixing dyes impregnated with anxieties
Negotiating the spectrum of your colored identities
Pouring into casts sculpted to produce me, to (re)produce you
Designing coiffures with tresses and clothing trimmed in lace
You aimed to (re)present me as you
Representations of you matter
Capitalism has embraced me with affectionate avarice
Adopting me as a commodification of you
Selling me to you as sameness and to “others” as difference
Masking and molding aged ideologies
Unmasking and molding aspirational ideologies
Stifling and shepherding a future of authenticity
Representations of you matter
Because you matter
Sabrina Thomas is a social scientist and faculty member in the Program In Education at Duke University where she also serves as an academic dean. She is a doll collector and doll historian whose research focuses on the politics of black doll production during the first half of the twentieth century. She has published articles and book chapters on the topic and is currently working on a book-length manuscript. She has been a featured speaker at the Strong Museum of Play for the panel “Black Dolls and Social Movements in the American Toy Industry,” and as a special guest of their Meet The Collectors Series. She was recently selected as Scholar-in-Residence for El Proyecto La Muneca Negra in La Lisa, Havana Province, a project focused on the art of dollmaking in Cuba. Sabrina holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina - Greensboro. She is a co-organizer of the Black Doll Symposium.
Sabrina Thomas es una científica social y miembro de la facultad del Programa de Educación en la Universidad Duke, donde también se desempeña como decana académica. Es coleccionista e historiadora de muñecas, cuya investigación se centra en la política de la producción de muñecas negras durante la primera mitad del siglo XX. Ha publicado artículos y capítulos de libros sobre el tema y actualmente está trabajando en un manuscrito extenso. Ha sido oradora destacada en el Strong Museum of Play en el panel "Muñecas negras y movimientos sociales en la industria del juguete estadounidense", y como invitada especial de su serie Meet The Collectors. Recientemente fue seleccionada como académica residente para el proyecto La Muñeca Negra en La Lisa, provincia de La Habana, un proyecto centrado en el arte de la fabricación de muñecas en Cuba. Sabrina tiene un doctorado en Desarrollo Humano y Estudios de Familia de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte - Greensboro. Es coorganizadora del Simposio de Muñecas Negras.