How Dolls Helped Win Brown v. Board of Education

credit for this story ERIN BLAKEMORE JAN 11, 2022 & MARCH 27, 2018

https://www.history.com/.../brown-v-board-of-education...

This headline and story caught my eye. Dolls are for kids. So why were they in front of the most esteemed judges in the United States? The Justices were considering the impact of this experiment in 1953-54 around the same time I received my Black baby doll. Her name was Amosandra, and she was the first mass-produced rubber doll with black skin.

The doll which was a promotional product for “Amos’ n’ Andy”, a popular radio series that featured white actors portraying African American characters. The program employed racial stereotyping and exaggerated dialect, and the actors wore blackface when posing for publicity photos. I’ll never know what wisdom was gifted to my mother when she bought me that doll. It left an impact on me and I included that memory in my book FREEDOM LESSONS – A NOVEL.

It is also an example of Lesson #3 from my book: Family provides security, identity, and values.

The article by Erin Blakemore explained that the Clarks had to paint a white baby doll for the tests since Black baby dolls weren’t manufactured at the time. That surprised me since I, a four-year-old white girl, had a Black baby doll. I searched to find that The Sun Rubber Co. of Barberton announced the birth of Amosandra in 1949 that changed the complexion of the U.S. toy industry.

In the Clark’s research, the children were asked which doll they wanted to play with, which one looked white, “colored”, “good” or “bad” and finally, which looked most like them. Most children preferred the white doll and some cried when asked to choose the one that looked like them. The results upset the Clarks so much that they delayed publishing their conclusions.

Historians debate the importance of the Clark’s work and testimony. But here’s one woman that is glad to know the resistance didn’t stop Thurgood Marshall. Yet, we are still moving too slowly, fifty years after I had my Amosandra Baby doll, I wanted to buy our first granddaughter, who is biracial, the family tradition of Bitty Baby, A Madame Alexander doll, I had to search hard for a dark-skinned version. I was traveling when I did find one in a toy shop in New Orleans. I live in NJ.

She’s seventeen now so maybe some things have finally changed. The internet helped me to find this version which has hair like she had. I wanted to get her a baby doll that looked like her. This would be my choice.

Supreme Court Justices contemplated oral arguments and pored over case transcripts. But they also considered baby dolls—unexpected weapons in the plaintiffs’ fight against racial discrimination. I like to say that we need laws to protect our civil rights, but laws don’t change people’s opinions, people do. Be the change you want to see.

Finding joy in being my own agent

One year ago I signed my contract with my publisher, Brooke Warner, to achieve my goal and in four months I’ll have a published novel, Freedom Lessons (She Writes Press). I quickly learned that writing The End is NOT the end. Two years ago, I started the search for an agent. In that search I had some interest and a number of requests, some for the first five pages, or the first 50 pages, and even the entire manuscript. But no one believed in my story like I did until I submitted it to She Writes Press. That led to a phone conversation with Brooke and when she offered a Fall November 2019 Publication date I knew I was in the right place. That date is exactly the 50th anniversary of the events in my story. From the start, Brooke and the community of She Writes Press Authors have supported me in every aspect of this publishing journey and then I realized I was and I am my own agent. It is my job to get myself and my book out there. I know I can count on my family and friends. They have been there for me but my job is to find the next circle beyond them. Following the advice of another She Writes Press author, Belle Brett (https://deaddarlings.com/months-publication-tentative-tips-debut-novelist/) here are some of the many actions I’ve taken. I updated my website, got a professional headshot, hired a publicist, set up my book launch, continue taking webinars, upped my game on social media and I’m finding joy in the marketing process.

Joy is more than being happy. It comes from a deep place in me. It rises up and fills me with a glow. I typically reserve “joy” to describe the day I married my husband, the births of our daughters and our grandchildren. But last week I left a local library with a spring in my step and that feeling of joy rising up which carried me through the day. I have bundles of 50 bookmarks to promote my book and a plan to visit every local library around (I have enough for 50 libraries!).

It takes some effort to convince my introverted self to walk in to deliver my pitch and offer a librarian a bundle of bookmarks for patrons. But I’m doing it “bird by bird”. Every time I’ve given my pitch the librarian has been welcoming and receptive. Last week, a librarian who appeared to be twenty-something was VERY interested and asked to look at the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) in my hand. Here’s an example of the perennial mindset - we just chatted like girlfriends of the same age. She then encouraged me to contact her supervisor who schedules events in the main library and the two other branches. I did. Today, a librarian I met three months ago, before I had bookmarks or an ARC to offer sent me an invitation to her library for an event for my book. I said yes.

And, this morning before I had the idea to write this blog post, I spoke with a representative of a national technology company for school leaders. They offer free resources to support the professional development of educators. I’ll be doing a podcast! A first person perspective of mandated school integration in the era of Brown v. Board of Education which will share my story to a broader audience than I could have dreamed. My career path as an educator and an administrator is a good match but I didn’t do this alone wearing my '‘agent hat.” One of our daughters made this connection for me and I am grateful for family and friends who are helping me share my story. And thanks to Belle Brett, I’m going “to regularly remind myself that I wrote a novel, for heaven’s sake”, and someone wanted to publish it, and someone wants to help me “make the magic happen.” That magic is bubbling up as joy as I put myself out there.