So, when I was a child I had 3 American Girl dolls. My first American Girl doll was Addy a black doll whose story was about her escape from slavery to freedom. My next doll was the Hispanic doll Josefina and my last one was an Asian-American Doll of Today that I named Ling.
I say all this cause I was and still am a fan of American Girl. They really make the dolls to accentuate the true features of the different ethnicities. I must admit that when I first got my Addy doll (the black doll) for Christmas I was upset that her hair was textured. Even though my hair was not permed and textured just like hers I didn't like it. I even called the company (I was about 10 years old) and asked why her hair was like that. It was called self-hate but, I didn't recognize it back then.
But, guess what? I grew to really love my Addy doll--even above the others I would later get. Depicting the natural way we look in dolls helps our girls to grow to love and appreciate their God-given beauty.
So recently, Brandy purchased an Addy doll for her daughter and the comments were out of this world. People called the doll's hair "ratchet" and other negative things were said. Someone even said "at least she isn't wearing a short, nappy afro." Well, guess what? Short and coily hair is a normal, appropriate, and beautiful hairstyle. This goes to show me that there is still self-hate within our community.
Naturally Leslie did a great job of documenting some of the comments. Check them out HERE.
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