The "Golliwogg" (later "Golliwog", "golly doll")
was a character in children's books in
the late 19th century and depicted as a type of rag doll.
It was reproduced, both by commercial and
hobby toy-makers as a children's toy called
the "golliwog", and had great popularity in
North America, the United Kingdom, Europe
and Australia, into the 1960s.
The doll has black skin, eyes rimmed in white,
clown lips, and frizzy hair, and it has been described
as "the least known of the major anti-Black caricatures
in the United States".
While home-made golliwogs were sometimes female,
the golliwog was generally male.
For this reason, in the period following
World War II, the golliwog was seen, along with
the teddy bear, as a suitable soft toy for a young boy.
I remember seeing them in Enid Blyton books, although I didn't have a lot of her books.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI also remember when I was a kid (80s/ 90s) there were biscuits called Gollywogs shaped like this little black doll fellas. One day they disappeared to reappear a few years later looking pretty much the same but renamed scallywags. I think now they don't exist at all. At the time I was a kid, I just knew they were really yummy.