Growing Up with Jim Crow

The dolls in this exhibition were mostly made by Black women who chose to depict Black people as dignified, cared for, and loved. These representations stand in direct opposition to Jim Crow-era imagery, which predominantly depicted African Americans using derogatory stereotypes.   

The consumer culture that spread across the United States following the Civil War upheld social and cultural boundaries between Black and white. It reinforced—sometimes overtly, sometimes subtly—the idea that differences between the races were natural rather than socially constructed. Commercial toys, games, and books marketed towards children reflected this notion.  

Board games encouraged violence towards Black characters, and children’s books and other toys depicted them as comical or inept. The artifacts of play displayed here underscore the messages of racism that pervaded the worlds of white and Black children for decades after emancipation. 

This display of items from the Jim Crow era includes offensive imagery and language.