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| Ebony magazine November 1985, 40th-anniversary edition |
In November 1985,
Ebony magazine published its 40th-anniversary magazine that features highlights from the 1945 through 1984 publications. The covers of these editions appear on the front cover and on the inside of the front cover.
Known for featuring dolls and toys in their November issues, "Black Toys: They've come a long way since 1945," is one of the last articles in this November 1985 issue. The article on black dolls is the reason I purchased this issue several years ago.
Scans from Google of the three-page article and two separate ads are included below. (If necessary, click to enlarge or stretch the images to enlarge.)
This full-page ad for Olmec's original super hero action figure, Sun-Man, precedes the first page of the "Black Toys" article.
1st Page of the Article
The opening paragraph of the article reads:
In 1945, the only little girls who had Black dolls were those lucky enough to have mothers, grandmothers or aunts who could sew and make rag dolls. It was almost impossible to go into a store in the U.S. and buy a Black doll. The result was that Black girls had to content themselves with hugging and cuddling blonde dolls.
The captions for the photos on the first page of the article read:
1) Today's Black girls can cuddle up to dolls that resemble them like the Sugar-n-Spice doll (above, l.), Huggy Bean (middle), Potpurri (foreground) and Little Tina (lying down).
2) "Sun-Man" series by Olmec Corp. (right) includes flexible heroic action figures designed specifically for the Black child.
2nd Page
The caption for the dolls on the second page of the article reads as follows:
Twins Keith and Keisha (left) are among the 30 Black dolls produced by the Keisha Doll Co. Keisha (foreground) sports a corn row hairstyle. Keith (rear) has an Afro.*
*The doll described as Keith in the caption above is actually a fashion doll by Tanline.
An embedded ad for Golden Ribbon Plaything's Huggy Bean and her pal Oni-Bean is on the final page of the article.
Shown below is an ad for boy and girl Kotton Kandy Kid dolls. This ad appears several pages before the "Black Toys" article in this issue of Ebony.
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| In 1985, Kotton Kandy Kid dolls could be ordered for $15 each plus shipping. |
In addition to Black dolls, the "Black Toys" article discusses ride-on toys, board games, action figures, and other dolls and toys new to the market in 1985. Toys designed specifically for Black children and those who desired to purchase diverse playthings for their children were the focus of this article, which ends with the following statement.
Unlike Black children of 40 years ago, today's Black children needn't settle for dolls and games that ignore their heritage.
Related Reading
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Do you have a Sugar-n-Spice or a Potpurri doll?
ReplyDeleteNo. I do not have a Sugar-n-Spice or a Potpurri doll.
DeleteA black Kotton Kandy Kid is super rare I didn't even find a picture on the internet
ReplyDeleteNicholas, I found plenty of white versions still being made but not a single black Kandy Kid when I performed a Google search while writing this post.
Delete