Golliwog

Rare card · No. 36610

The golliwog, also spelled golliwogg or shortened to golly, is a doll-like play character, created by cartoonist and author Florence Kate Upton, which appeared in children's books in the late 19th century, usually depicted as a type of rag doll. It was reproduced, both by commercial and hobby toy-makers, as a children's soft toy called the "golliwog", a portmanteau of golly and polliwog, and had great popularity worldwide, especially in the Southern United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia well into the 1970s, but have become more divisive due to being racist minstrel caricatures. The golliwog is controversial. While some view them as a harmless toy associated with childhood memories, they are widely considered a racist caricature of black people, alongside pickaninnies, minstrels, and mammy figures. The doll is characterised by jet black skin, eyes rimmed in white, exaggerated red lips and frizzy hair, based on the blackface minstrel tradition. Since the 20th century...

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