Back in the day finding beautiful black dolls in the UK was no easy feat. It used to be that black dolls were few and far between and the ones that were available were extortionately priced and looked like white dolls that had been painted black.
The struggle to find black dolls in the UK was especially real. I personally did not have a single black doll when I was growing up. By the time my little sister came along things were slightly better; she had a total of one black doll. Times have changed though and nowadays there are a plethora of authentic looking black dolls available for purchase.
In this guide you’ll find 24 black dolls that are available to purchase from OUR KIDS TROVE. And, every single one of these dolls is made by a black-owned business. This is important because cultural appropriation is rampant and diversifying your child’s toy box is only part of the battle. There’s also a need to address institutional oppression and part of the solution is supporting the black pound.
One of the many things I like about representing OUR KIDS TROVE at various markets is seeing people’s response to our collection of diverse toys. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched a young girl silently staring as she beholds our range of black dolls with a facial expression that screams, “Wow!”. Usually, this young girl is standing beside her mum who is equally transfixed and eventually sighs, “I wish we had all this when I was young.”
Yes, the big corporations have finally awakened to the need to have more than one random black doll in their product list. But it’s not good enough because authentic looking black dolls have been the heart cry of parents and children for generations; they earned to see black dolls that represented them.
So, it’s important that the dolls we sell are made by black-owned businesses because it signifies that people aren’t waiting for superman anymore. People are standing up and creating solutions to their own problems. For the black toymakers we partner with, making black dolls is about more than jumping on some trending woke bandwagon. It’s about representation, dignity, and inclusion.
Black dolls are more than insignificant play things. These dolls let little black girls know that they are important enough to be included and worthy of being represented. When a young girl sees a doll with hair, skin and features like her, it helps reinforce the truth that black is indeed beautiful.
Children learn about the world and their place in the world through play. So, having appealing toys that look like them can help instil a sense of dignity in children and help them feel proud about the features that are so often denigrated in society. For example, straight hair has long been held as the epitome of beauty while afro hair is regarded as wild, unprofessional, problematic and subsequently undesirable. It’s easy for young girls to internalise these skewed messages and consequently come to loath their natural crowns. So, a beautiful black doll with afro hair can be an instrument of empowerment and social change. Black dolls with afro hair have a valid place in the play world and the girls they represent have a valid place in the real world. Both have a right to exist.
And, for non-black children black dolls are equally important. They too need to have beautiful black dolls with afro hair in their toy collections. They need to know that people who don’t look like them belong in their play worlds and in the actual world. They need to know that people who don’t look like them are worthy of respect and inclusion. Diverse dolls are essential.
So, here are 21 black dolls that are available to purchase right here in the UK. Most of these black dolls are made by UK based black-owned businesses but they can be shipped worldwide. So, tell your friends to tell your friends about this one-stop shop for culturally diverse toys called OUR KIDS TROVE!
