Family's exhibit of black dolls is no small exploit
When her then-5-year-old said he didn't think Santa Claus was going to visit on Christmas Eve in 1998 because Santa wasn't black, Debra Britt's hobby of collecting dolls became a fight to preserve her child's pride. That year, she bought her son, Christopher, a number of black Santa Claus dolls, hoping to reshape his early perceptions about his race.
Today, Britt, a Dorchester native, and her family are broadening that message, displaying their collection of black dolls numbering between 5,000 and 8,000 in public libraries in and around Boston.
"I think it really raises self-esteem for a kid to see dolls that represent who they are," says Britt's sister, Felicia Walker, also originally from Dorchester.
The Doll E Daze Project, as the family calls it, has various themes. An exhibit in Egleston Square Branch Library features Raggedy Ann dolls. In the Mattapan Branch Library, Britt and her family have erected a display of vintage dolls, called "When We Were Colored," made between 1865 and the mid-1900s.
Dudley Branch Library is exhibiting dolls of modern celebrities, called "Dare to Dream." The largest display, called "Evolution," will run into late April in the Codman Square Branch Library in Dorchester, where Britt and her sisters have arrayed a potpourri of collectibles ranging from the 1860s to the present. In a long row of glass cases in the library, homemade Civil War-era dolls sit side by side with contemporary dolls, including those of Michael Jordan, rapper Snoop Dogg, and actor Samuel L. Jackson.
Walker says major doll companies have produced black dolls over the years, including Mattel, Inc.'s black Barbie in 1967, but the number of black dolls is still small compared to white dolls on the market. Most companies don't see it as economically viable to produce black dolls, she says.
"When you go shopping at the malls, you hardly see any black dolls," says Walker. "You may see one or two, but they are just replicas of a white person. They don't really have the features of a black person."
Britt, Walker, their mother, Roberta Thomas, and three sisters -- Jerrilyn Cannon, Chantell Albert, and Kareema Thomas -- first started displaying their collection, renting storefronts in their Dorchester neighborhood three years ago. This year is their first in public libraries, where demand for their exhibits is growing. Eleven Massachusetts libraries are on a waiting list.
Jessica Snow, children's librarian at the Codman Square Branch Library, says "Evolution" has drawn nearly twice as many people as usual to the library in the past month.
"The kids come in and see it during story time," she says. "Of course, all the girls are into it."
Standing beside "Evolution" recently, Britt slowly unrolled a pink piece of wrapping paper containing one of her prized possessions: a Frozen Charlotte -- a tiny black servant doll from the South, made in the 1860s.
Britt has been collecting such rarities since her late teens. She scouts flea markets, stores, doll conventions, malls, and
"I've given up meals," said Britt. "People have asked me: Don't you want to go to dinner? I tell them: No, I want that doll."
Each sister has her own preferences. Albert focuses mainly on wedding dolls and angels. Walker collects Native American dolls. Cannon likes large dolls. Britt said she collects a variety, but her recent focus has been on vintage dolls.
The family's doll exhibits are a "labor of love," said Britt, and they are looking for donations to keep the shows running. They hope to establish a permanent headquarters for their dolls someday.
And they want to use their doll hobby to raise money for charities, perhaps by auctioning the dolls they make in their spare time.
As for the exhibits, Britt said she was going to remove them at the end of the month, but has decided to leave them up indefinitely.
"Every time, I try to take them down, the librarians are like, 'No, please leave them up,' " she says. 