"Mammy" cloth doll with a red and floral dress and a matching floral kerchief
- Manufactured by
- Unidentified
- Date
- mid 20th century
- Medium
- mother of pearl and thread on cloth with batting and yarn
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 14 1/8 × 8 7/8 × 2 3/16 in. (35.9 × 22.5 × 5.5 cm)
- Caption
- This doll is one of several Black dolls given to the donor, a White woman, as a child. TThe dolls were purchased in either Texas, where she spent summers at her grandmother’s, or in Illinois, where the donor lived the rest of the year.
- The donor named her dolls "Mamie," "Maggie," and "Mariah" after African American women who worked for her grandmother in Texas. She remembers very little about the individual women or their families. Her grandmother needed assistance due to diabetes and hired the women to help around the house. The donor recalls her grandmother keeping separate plates and silverware for the African American women to use but did not object when the donor’s mother would invite them to eat at the family table.
- Description
- A female cloth doll with a red and floral dress and a matching floral kerchief in the form of a stereotypical "Mammy" character. The doll has a soft, black cloth head and body with rounded cloth hands and feet. The head and torso of the doll are made with smooth woven fabric, the arms are made from a rib-knit fabric, and the legs are made from plain knit with seams across the top of the feet. The eyes are constructed from small, flat, round mother-of-pearl shell buttons. The button representing the proper left eye is chipped. The nostrils and mouth are embroidered in red thread. The doll has pigtails on either side of her face that have been secured with gold, green, and red yarn. The bodice of the doll’s dress is a red triangle of cloth that covers the back with the ends crossing over in the front and sewn to the red waistband below creating a front cross halter neckline. At the top center of the front neckline is a piece of yellow yarn tied into a bow and knotted with green and red yarn fragments. The waistband ties in a bow at the back. Sewn to the bottom of the waistband is a white skirt with a red, yellow, blue, and green flower and foliate pattern. The skirt extends halfway down the doll’s legs. She also has a matching floral kerchief and bloomers.
- Statement
- Objects depicting racist and/or stereotypical imagery or language may be offensive and disturbing, but the NMAAHC aims to include them in the Collection to present and preserve the historical context in which they were created and used. Objects of this type provide an important historical record from which to study and evaluate racism.
- Place used
- Texas, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Toys and Games
- Racist and Stereotypical Objects
- Type
- cloth dolls
- Topic
- Amusements
- Children
- Domestic life
- Families
- Race relations
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Linda M. Sheffield
- Object number
- 2023.11.3
- Restrictions & Rights
- Unknown – Restrictions Possible
- Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.