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Salimata Lala Fall

Jean Coco
English 1001
9 December 2015
Audience: My target audience are African American college students.
Black Doll
Process Preface
This paper has been long and extremely overwhelming. However, feel extremely proud
of what I have produced. I think with two additional weeks, I would have taken some time away
from the paper. Crazy? I know. However, I believe that with time away from the paper, I could
come back with a pair of fresh eyes. I also would get a peer view, new eyes are very helpful.
paper. I think I am also beginning to get tired of the paper, which I do not want to happen. I think
with additional time I could work on developing my ideas better as that is one of the areas in
which I will never remain completely confident in. I also think I fixed my target which was a
problem in my teacher comment draft. In all honesty, I can't be too specific with what areas I can
fix because if allotted more time, I would get feedback from others, as I am satisfied with my
paper, and it is hard for me to see what to change after I revised from the teacher comment draft.
1.) To be African American in America...To be black in America...Is a struggle. To be
black in America, is like an albatross hanging around your neck. There is a weight that is
attached to you...As we progress in time, well into the 21st century, we love to believe, or even
preach, that "race is no longer an issue," and if race is brought up, its connotation is negative, as
if the "race card" is an excuse. Race, even though it is a touchy subject, is very serious and very
prevalent in today's society. We see in the news African Americans getting shot by the police. We
see college campuses having Klu Klux Klan members threatening African American peers.
African Americans are still struggling to get jobs because of their race. Remember Trayvon

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Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and many more
African American lives that we have lost. African American churches set on fire in St.Louis in
2015. America has Black parents afraid to send their children out because of the horrors of our
world.
2.) No, I am not negating the process that America has mad, as we have come far from
slavery and such. However, we still have a long way to go, and unfortunately the battle is not
only between African Americans and other races. There is an internal battle within the African
American community itself. African American people are trying to find themselves and their
culture while still trying to be accepted into today's society. It is hard for African Americans to
find their worth and their beauty, and to stand tall in themselves, when African Americans'
beauty and their value is not being shown in society. No matter what we teach or say, our society,
the news, our textbooks taught in school, the media, magazines, dictates a lot of what we believe.
This paper will focus on the negative effects society and the media have on African American
children, and those damaging effects on African American children's racial identity.
Unfortunately, the ones who are suffering the most, are the little ones and the younger
generation. The ones who are so easily impressed. Such impressionable minds that only want to
be accepted and loved.
3.) I remember being younger and walking through the stores holding my mother's hand,
gazing at the plethora of toys . I remember looking past dozens of baby dolls with pale skin and
variations of eye color and hair color. I saw the excitement as other kids, little white kids, got
happy when they saw a doll that looked like them. "Mommy! Look, this is my baby," they would
squeal excitedly as they grabbed the doll and walked away. Meanwhile, me, a little chocolate
baby, with brown eyes and dark, coarse, curly hair, would look for a doll that could be my baby.

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It rare to find an African American doll in the toy stores, it hard to find a doll of any other
ethnicity besides white (Buddington 136).As a child, I wondered why it was so difficult to get a
doll of color. There was a variety of white dolls, yet if I was lucky enough to find a doll of
color, her skin was tan and light, her hair black, yet straight, her eyes, a light brown or hazel. I
remember asking my mother if I was pretty enough to get a doll that looked like me. "Was I
ugly because of my dark skin and thick hair?" I remember asking my mother as we walked out
the toy store without a doll in hand..
4.) My mom would go to specialty stores, or shop online and pay more in order for me to
get a doll that looked like me. My mother taught me the importance and the beauty in my skin
color. Although, this is not about me, as I feel extremely lucky, that I knew from a young age the
beauty in black. The beauty and the power and strength that we hold. In the short documentary,
"A Girl Like Me," one young lady recalls playing with her dolls as a child. She reminisces about
brushing her doll's hair. Her dolls, the majority of them being white, she states that as she was
brushing its long, straight, hair, she wished she was just like the white doll (Davis). To my
dismay, a lot of children don't see that, and from such a young age, they are not happy with
themselves.
5.) It has been proven, that even from an early age, children, know the difference between
races(Clark, K. M. And Clark, M. P. 341). They know the difference between white and black.
After Brown vs The Board Education, Dr. Kenneth Brown Clark and his wife Mamie Clark,
chose to conduct an experiment in which he asked African Americans children to choose
between an African American doll and a Caucasian doll. The test included surveying multiple
children under the age of 12. The children were all African American from different socio
economic classes and family backgrounds. The children were presented multiple dolls all the

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same except for the color of the skin, some dolls being white. some dolls being black. The
children were first asked to identify what doll looked most like them. The Clarks then asked
multiple questions to the children, some including: What doll is the good doll? What doll is the
bad doll? What doll is the ugly doll? What doll is the pretty doll? What doll would you choose?
The majority of the African American children preferred the Caucasian dolls over the African
American dolls (NAACP Legal Defense Fund). The children chose the African American doll as
the bad one and the Caucasian doll as the good one only because of the color of the doll skin. In
the film, "A Girl Like Me" by Kiri Davis, Davis recreates the famous doll experiment.
6.) The test, almost five decades later, is recreated by Kiri Davis. To much despair, the
results are shockingly similar: when asked, what doll the children prefer, again, the majority of
the children chose the Caucasian doll. When asked, what doll was the bad doll, the children
overwhelmingly chose the African American doll. The common response from the children, were
that the Caucasian doll was the good doll because it was white, and the African American doll
was the bad doll because it was black. 15 out of the 21 African American children interviewed
preferred the Caucasian doll (Davis). In separate experiment, not the doll test, but a test to prove
that children are aware of color and race, performed by the Clarks, again it was noted that
African American children would color themselves significantly lighter than they were. The
same children knew what color to color a leaf, an orange, however, when it came to themselves
their views were distorted (Clark, K. M. And Clark, M. P. 343). Their views were distorted
because of a lack of self identity.
7.) It is clear from these results that African American children are still struggling to see
the beauty in themselves. They still equate white with better. Results have proven, that if a child's
racial identity differs than the racial identity that one can see with their eyes, their physical traits,

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and they seem to have problems with their racial identity, this could be a result of a lack of
"proper racial exposure"(Buddington 138). Racial exposure? What does that mean exactly? Well,
it is important for children to be exposed to a variety of different cultures, ethnicities, and races.
It is equally as important for them to know and be constantly reminded that all of the different
cultures, ethnicities, and races are important and beautiful and that none is greater or lesser than
the other. Yet, reassuring African American children of their beauty and worth is difficult when
combating with what society says is beautiful, as society and media surround us and our
children.
8.) The problem is that society does not depict that all cultures, ethnicities, and races are
the same. On television, the red carpet, even popular historic figures, the majority are white.
These children, see the media and they see the society in which they live in, that does not praise
or glorify African Americans, in all their glory. The models and movie stars are predominately
white. The magazines are filled with gorgeous women, again primarily white. Even with current
events, and the news, being black or African American in today's society is not portrayed in a
positive light, it is even dangerous just to be African American or black in today's world
(Squires15). There is so much violence, and abuse of power. So if society is not reminding our
children of their beauty and worth, it is left up to their parents and surrounding adults to remind
and uplift our children, so that they are confident in themselves...In order for our children to love
themselves, we first have to redefine beauty. We have to teach that all people, African Americans
included, are beautiful. That beauty comes in many forms. It is difficult to teach that beauty
comes in all forms, when everyone is entitled to their own opinion of what is beautiful. Beauty
comes in different shapes, sizes, skin tones, ethnicity, etc. Not everyone will think that you are

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beautiful. What is important is teaching our children that the only thing that matters is that you
think you are beautiful. That you know that you are worthy.
9.) If something does not change, our children will continue to grow up into teenagers
who struggle with their identities, who will morph into adults, that change themselves to match
society's definition of beautiful, and they will have kids who will repeat the same vicious cycle.
This is why it is imperative for children to know their worth. To break the cycle. We have Black
mothers, bleaching their children's' skin in order for them to be lighter. To be prettier. It's
disheartening. Children, who are so innocent and beautiful longing to be someone other than
themselves. DuBois mentioned that "the negro" will have difficulties in America. That they will
get lost (DuBois 14). He foresaw the struggle of the conflict between self and society. In the
film, one female states that there is something "missing" in the African American community,
and while we are searching for whatever is missing, "everyone else in society is throwing their
ideas and what they believe we should be at us" (Davis). She states that we, the African
American community "doesn't really know what we should be" (Davis). This statement,
coincides with DuBois' philosophy that a Black person, an African American in America, will
always be reminded of their race, and how in America, there will be a struggle to find your
culture.
10.) As an African American female student typing this paper, I am disappointed, I am
sad. It bothers me, it makes me uncomfortable to see children, at such a young age, be ashamed
of who they are. I hope that this paper, this documentary, these cries for help, will make the
reader uncomfortable. This paper, is a call for action. I do not know a quick fix to this problem. I
do know however, that there is a problem. It is evident from the research. Our children are
victims of society. No child should ever feel ashamed of something that they cannot change.

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Every child, regardless of their race, regardless of their skin color or their ethnicity is beautiful,
is precious, is a gem, and I hope that every child would be taught that and know that.

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Works Cited
Buddington, Steve. Barbie.Com and Racial Identity. N.p.: n.p., n.d. LSU Online Catalog. Web.
19 Nov. 2015.
Du Bois W. E. B. The Negro. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania, 2001. Print.
Catherine R. Squires. Postracial Mystique: Media and Race in the 21st Century. New York:
NYU Press, 2014.Project MUSE. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
CLARK, K. M. AND CLARK, M. P., 1950. Emotional factors in racial identification and
preference in Negro children. Journal of Negro Education, 19, 341-350.
Davis, Kiri. "Kiri Davis: A Girl Like Me. [black doll / white doll Experiment]." YouTube.
YouTube, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"NAACP Legal Defense Fund : Defend, Educate, Empower." Brown at 60: The Doll Test. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.