National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture
One of BAIA Foundation’s 2022 initiatives is instituting marketing assistance for African American Museums and Cultural Centers.
“Mothers! Give your children dolls that look like them to play with and cuddle, They will learn as they grow older to care for and love their own children…”
—Marcus Garvey
The National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture upholds Marcus Garvey’s belief that Black children in America should have dolls that look like them, but the museum goes beyond just objects of play to uplift the history and culture of African Americans through representation and reflection in the dolls. The NBDMHC believes that everyone, regardless of cultural background, has a story that can be told through dolls, which are a child’s first introduction to self-image.
Growing up, did you know someone who collected dolls? Perhaps an elder then (or one now)? That’s because dolls play a bigger role than we think in culture. Before they were commodified and made more easily accessible, many of our elders and ancestors made their own dolls (sometimes from roots out of the ground). If you were lucky though, you’d have one made with clothes and perhaps even a complexion that mirrored your own. And you either passed it on when you outgrew it, or you kept it.
Well, NBDMHC has a collection of over 7,000 dolls that tell stories of African American history, culture, and experiences. The dolls, along with other artifacts within the museum, are used to represent these experiences and promote positive self-image and nurture self-esteem for all people of color and ages.
The National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture’s struggle to maintain a prominent place in African American history has existed since they first began after launching the Doll E Daze Project in 2005. Upon realizing the need for a home for their doll collection, the first Black Dolls Collection Convention was initiated in 2008 to help raise awareness and funds for the museum. It wasn’t until 2012, after a long struggle to find financial support, that the NBDMHC found its first home on Main St. in Mansfield, Massachusetts. To this day, raising the funds to build and maintain the museum has been a challenge. In fact, the museum currently remains closed while pursuing its mission for funding to reopen. If you’d like to contribute towards this important aspect of our history and help this museum accessible to our children and grown folk alike, please do so here.
Once reopened, visitors will be able to explore the vast doll collection and shop the store for collectibles, porcelain dolls, and doll making kits. NBDMHC also offers workshops that examine the power of doll play, teach doll-making, roots of African American culture, African traditions, dance, and more. The National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture welcomes and encourages others to join their movement and assist in helping to reopen in the museum in a better location and uplift their mission of creating a bigger and better space for Black people to take up.
Learn more about the National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture
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