Black Nurse Dolls

Linda Strodtman and Laura Noon's article, "Black Nurse Dolls Part 1," in the Fall 2026 issue of UFDC's Doll News focuses on the historical Black nurse doll and includes three Harriet Tubman dolls from Dee Bee Gee's Virtual Black Doll Museum.

The article includes a photograph of Harriet Tubman's tombstone at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York. The front of the tombstone reads:

To The Memory Of

HARRIET TUBMAN DAVIS

Heroine of the Underground Railroad.

Nurse and Scout in the Civil War:

Born about 1820 in Maryland.

Died March 10, 1913 at Auburn, N.Y.

"Servant of God, Well Done"

Erected by the

Empire State Federation of Womens Clubs

July 5, 1937

The doll pictured in the table of contents represents Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845–1926), the first African American to earn a professional nursing license and graduate from an American nursing school. 

Part 2 of the article will focus on the Black Nurse play doll. __________

All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode; find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum (VBDM) for over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls, and now featuring profiles of Black-doll collectors, artists, and other Black-doll contributors. 

Contact the curator through the VBDM contact page to have your Black-doll collector or artist profile featured on the museum website for up to 30 days.

D is for Dolls Addendum

In a reply to a recent comment on my November 19, 2014, post, "D is for Doll, and I is for Image Intense," I indicated I would take a better picture of the "Playing with Dolls" photo from page 235 of the D volume of the 1987 World Book Encyclopedia (WBE). The image above is the one promised. It isn't as clear as I would like because of shadows in the original photo, but I hope EF's pleasant memories of seeing Free Moving Barbie and Ken in this photo, as it appeared in her 1976 D volume of WBE, are further enhanced. 

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode; find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum (VBDM) for over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls, and now featuring profiles of Black-doll collectors, artists, and other Black-doll contributors. 

Contact the curator through the VBDM contact page to have your Black-doll collector or artist profile featured on the museum website for up to 30 days.

What Happened to Her Face?

Accidentally, paint was removed from this 1950s Saucy Walker look-alike's face.

From the Virtual Black Doll Museum "Saucy Walker Look-alikes installation: In the United States, Saucy Walker dolls were first made by Ideal Toy Corporation from 1951 to 1957 in a variety of sizes, including 22 inches. A rare Black 14-inch version by Ideal is documented by the online Doll Reference site. A 22-inch Black version from 1951 is documented on page 155 in Modern Collector’s Dolls Fifth Series by Patricia R. Smith. The 22-inch doll is marked IDEAL DOLL on the head and body.

"To compete with Ideal, other American doll companies created Black and White look-alike Saucy Walker dolls that had some of the same features as Ideal’s version. (The original Saucy Walker is a head-turning walker with pin-jointed hips; when the legs are moved, the head moves from side to side. Some had ma-ma criers and flirty eyes.) Honey Bunch by Miller Company is one known Black Saucy Walker look-alike...

I made a huge mistake that removed paint from one of my look-alike doll's face. What caused this and the repair are explained in the following video.



Before and After

My Saucy Walker look-alike looks much better now.

Note: Don't use alcohol on hard plastic dolls or any doll to remove dust.

Related Link:

Saucy Walker Look-alikes

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and may not be used elsewhere without the author's permission.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published. To contact me directly, use the About page link, which is also visible in Web View mode; find and use the email link.

Visit and follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum (VBDM) for over 1000 curated installations of antique, vintage, modern, and one-of-a-kind Black dolls, and now featuring profiles of Black-doll collectors, artists, and other Black-doll contributors. 

Contact the curator through the VBDM contact page to have your Black-doll collector or artist profile featured on the museum website for up to 30 days.