Name/Title
DollEntry/Object ID
1954.15.18Description
Large doll made from black knitted silk stockings. The doll has short, curly hair made from wool decorated with a yellow silk ribbon at the center top of the head. The face consists of two mother-of-pearl buttons for eyes, a stitched and shaped nose, and an embroidered mouth (pink lips and white teeth). There is a yellow medallion embroidered at the center of the doll's chest. The wrists are shaped through yellow stem stitch embroidery, and the lower legs are decorated with horizontal couched yellow lines. The feet are made from leather with blanket stitched seams, decorated with orange silk ribbons. The doll is wearing an apron-style dress made from brown, yellow, and white striped cotton.Context
Made by Kate Dewey Squires of Montpelier, VermontAcquisition
Accession
1954.15Source or Donor
Dewey, Breta Brigham (1887-1968)Acquisition Method
GiftLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
DollNomenclature Class
ToysNomenclature Category
Category 09: Recreational ObjectsRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Squires, Kate Dewey (1864-1930)Related Places
Place
Town
East MontpelierCounty
Washington CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaInterpretative Labels
Label
"Mammy" imagery, such as that seen in this doll, was a racial caricature of African American women. It depicts a smiling, desexualized black woman whose role is caring for the white children of her enslaver. The image was created as propaganda, to put forward the claim that African Americans were happy in slavery. Though the imagery began before the Civil War as a backlash to abolitionism, it endured long afterward as a justification for the economic oppression of black women, depicting them as only fit for domestic labor. While this doll does not carry many of the more recognizable pieces of typical Mammy imagery, we know it was meant to represent that by her name: Dinah. During the nineteenth century, the name Dinah became a generic name used to indicate enslaved black women.