Tuesday, July 25, 2023

In Appreciation of Harriet Tubman Dolls by Gloria Rone


On February 2, 2022, three one-of-a-kind dolls sculpted in tribute to Harriet Tubman by Gloria Y. Rone of Massa's Servants Collectibles were curated and installed in DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum. The installation includes photos and details about the dolls along with a brief Harriet Tubman bio. 

To this installation, on July 24, 2023, the following comment was added by museum visitor, Albertina Walker.

These dolls are absolutely sensational! The likeness, particularly of the 12″ doll, is spot on, and the intricate details of the face and facial expressions are extraordinary! I am very grateful to artist Gloria Rone for sharing her remarkable art with us and I am especially pleased that she chose Harriet Tubman as her subject. There are very few people – male or female – throughout this world’s history who have demonstrated as much courage, genius, perseverance, dedication, and leadership as Harriet Tubman. Her extraordinary, diverse catalogue of knowledge spanned a vast array of disciplines and skills ranging from geography, botany, wildlife, animal behavior and psychology, to astronomy, herbology, climatology and human psychology, thus justifiably deeming her equally (if not more) proficient and intellectually well-versed as any leading scholar or intellectual contemporary of her time. (Despite the leading consensus among academians that Ms. Tubman was illiterate all through her life, recent inquiry uncovered evidence suggesting that she had indeed accumulated some degree of basic reading and writing skills at some point by her final years, as indicated by long forgotten journals she kept towards the end of her life, which had been stowed away in a Yale University archives basement for decades.)


Thank you for writing this outstanding article and sharing with us the brilliant work of Gloria Rone.

At 5:06 p.m. on July 24, 2923, I replied,

Thank you so much, Ms. Walker, for your glowing review of Ms. Rone’s Harriet Tubman dolls. She does have a keen ability to sculpt very realistic faces that breathe life into dolls. It is very important for our heroines like Harriet Tubman to be remembered for their heroism and dedicated battles against human bondage.

Thank you for also sharing that Harriet Tubman achieved basic reading and writing skills during her lifetime. This is why we need to research our history and continue to share our stories. It would be detrimental to our progress as a society if we allow individuals who are descendants of enslavers to rewrite history in order to absolve their ancestors of their wrongdoings against enslaved Africans. Such an action will only serve to create further division among us.

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It always warms my heart to hear from museum visitors and subscribers who express appreciation for the information the museum provides.

View the installation here.

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

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2 comments:

  1. Amazing dolls!! My favorite is the 14 inch doll because the head and body are the most proportional and the clothes fit the best. Honestly though, they are all fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. They are all amazing!

    ReplyDelete

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