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Barbie Girl In A White-Washed World

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hampton U chapter.

Remember the Barbie Doll phase? There was nutcracker Barbie, the dog-owner Barbie, the pop star Barbie, the princess Barbie, the beach Barbie, and even the Barbie that came with a Ken doll. During my Barbie phase, Barbie was diverse in her career, her clothes, and her talents, but not her complexion. Majority, if not all of the Barbie Dolls aligning the Toys-R-Us shelves were White. While Black Barbie dolls did exist, they were not nearly as prominent as the White ones.

Of course, at that age, a girlā€™s Barbie preference and how it reflected her self-esteem or internal perspective never crossed my mind. I just wanted to play with dolls like everyone else. However, with age and maturity, Iā€™ve become more inquisitive.

Why was there such a lack of diversity in Barbie dollsā€™ skin tones? Why did Barbie have to be extremely fair or extremely dark, as if every complexion in between was non-existent? Ā Most importantly, what was Barbieā€™s appearance teaching Black children about their own appearances and skin tones?

In 1940, Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted ā€œThe Doll Testā€; a series of analyses regarding the self-perceptions of African American children using two dolls. According to NPS.gov, the Clarks provided African American children a Black doll and a White one, asking them questions like ā€œWhich doll is nice?ā€ and ā€œWhich doll is bad?ā€ Through questioning and examination, the Clarks proved that African American children had developed a sense of self-hatred. They favored the White dolls because they thought they looked better than the Black ones, and they associated Black skin complexions with negative connotations.

The findings of ā€œThe Doll Testā€ were so significant in proving that self-hatred, segregation, and self-discrimination existed among Black children that the study was used to enforce desegregation following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.

ā€œThe Doll Testā€ has been re-enacted several times. In one re-enactment published on YouTube in 2012, a Black boy is asked which of the two dollsā€”one White and one Blackā€”is the ugly one. The boy points to the Black doll, and when asked why that doll is the ugly one, he proceeds to say ā€œBecause heā€™s Black.ā€

Representation in society is crucial to how children view themselves. It is a continuous, toxic cycle: society portrays Black children as ugly and bad, Black children internalize this concept, and the concept is regurgitated through the markets and media until the next generation of Black children has been brainwashed to believe they are ugly and bad, too.

In USA Today, Debbie Garrett, author of Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting and Experiencing the Passion speaks in regards to her daughter, saying, ā€œshe wanted to ā€˜make sure that as an African-American child, she saw herself in the dolls that she played with in order to reinforce her significance, her self-worth, and self-esteem.ā€™ā€ She continues on to say that ā€œall children need to see themselves in a positive light,ā€ because if they donā€™t, they tend to question themselves.

With that being said, it is imperative for African American families to show their children positive representations of Black people. Speak of Black people with the utmost respect, so your son or daughter adopts the same mentality. Do not allow your child to be watered down by colorism, especially as portrayed in the media. Instead, teach your children that it is perfectly fine to be unapologetically Black.

Ā 

Ayanna Maxwell

Hampton U '20

Ayanna Maxwell is a graduating senior, strategic communications major at Hampton University. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Ayanna chose to attend Hampton because she admired the HBCU experience. A proud Virgo, she shares a birthday with her favorite singer, Beyonce (September 4th). Ayanna is also a Spring 2018 initiate into the Gamma Theta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
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Ania Cotton

Hampton U '18

Ania is a charismatic, outgoing, fun loving individual with aspirations of owning her own public relations firm. Her favorite shows are Spongebob, Regular Show, and Bob's Burgers, and she loves to eat. Ania graduated from Hampton University in May 2018 with her Bachelors of Arts in Strategic Communications with a minor in Spanish. Ania loves to talk and give advice to her friends and family; the motto that she lives by is to always be a blessing to others because you never know who may need it. To learn more about her, visit her website at www.anianicole.com.