This is a re-post in response to a new submission by vmlojw.
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Toban B. sent us this photo he took in Cardiff, Wales, of Golliwog banks:
While the sign indicates these particular ones were for display only, Toban says there were others clearly for sale.
The golliwog (also spelled golliwogg) is an old racist caricature, clearly similar to blackface minstrel-type or mammy figures in the U.S. It emerged in the 1800s but was popularized when James Robertson and Sons adopted a golliwog named Golly as the logo for their jam around 1910:
Now, obviously you’ll often find these types of things for sale in antique stores, or on display at museums. They were very common in the U.S., Britain, and I’m sure many other countries, so it’s not surprising you’d come upon them.
The thing about the golliwogs Toban saw, though, is that they don’t appear to be antiques. The same ones can be found on ebay, and here’s the box they come in, which looks quite new (as do the dolls themselves):
The ebay listing for that one lists it as “brand new,” though theoretically that could refer to an antique that had never been taken out of the box, I suppose. But the listing doesn’t say anything about it being an antique. And Toban says,
…the items on the table around them — at Cardiff Market — generally weren’t antiques. Since there were newly mass produced tourist/nationalism industry products around them, people passing by generally wouldn’t view the Golliwogg dolls as antiques. The dolls weren’t somehow distinguished from the newer products.
vmlojw, who is in Sydney, Australia, emailed in to tell us that her 1-year-old daughter received one as a gift and she later “found a local charity stall full of knitted golliwogs.” vmlojw figured this couldn’t happen in North America; I’m not so sure.
It’s one thing to find antique racist caricatures for sale. I still don’t know why you’d want to buy one, but I can certainly see why they’d be appropriate for museum displays. But I find it both bizarre and disturbing when new versions of such things are produced and put on sale as a “cutesy” souvenir. Do people think we’re so “post-racial” now that these are completely disconnected from their origins in a racist culture that viewed non-Whites as less human, less intelligent, and less civilized? Why would someone think this is an adorable reminder of their time in Cardiff? I really don’t get it.
Also see: vintage Jezebel products, mammy souvenirs for sale in Savannah, modern reproductions of old racist images, and patterns for making mammy-type dolls.
Comments 79
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist — September 11, 2009
why would people buy it as a "cutesy" toy? Honestly, I don't get it. but I can understand if someone would buy that to add to his/her historical miniatures collection. It's a part of history, a reminder of how ugly racism was back then (and still is, to this day).
Rhys — September 11, 2009
You're taking an overly ethnocentric view of the issue here. "Gollies" don't have the same stigma over there just because the US had slavery and Jim Crow. It might be in bad taste for an American to bring one back, but the locals most likely don't see them in the same racial socio-historical context as we do and thus likely don't promote them as such.
Here's something related to other cultures and racially loaded market items to make a point:
I was down in Tijuana MX about six years ago, wandering through an open market with a casual acquaintance I had made down there. We were trying to make our way through a large crowd when a large red, white, and black item caught my attention.
It was a large handbag (one of those canvas ones), red, with a white circle and black swastika in the middle. Not the ancient spiritual symbol that has become popular to try to rehabilitate, but the Nazi flag, and quite deliberately.
I thought it bizarre that such a thing would be for sale in public, and in Mexico to boot, but I ignored it. A few blocks later I came across similar items - resin skulls wearing SS helmets complete with lightning bolt insignia. Nazi flag shirts (again, red, white, and black), belt buckles, umbrellas, jewelry, knives, you name it.
My acquaintance was apologetic and said it was shameful that such things were sold, but it made me think about our ethnocentrism and their opposing cultural perception: they see the symbols as 'rebellious' and 'badass,' sort of how northern Americans have appropriated the Confederate flag. A Mexican who wears such things isn't doing it out of sympathy with the Nazi ideology or regime, but because it shocks people and sends a message about their 'tough guise' (to steal the phrase from Jackson Katz). This isn't to say that it's a positive thing, but it's not exactly an intentionally racist thing, either. As a side note, this probably doesn't happen in Mexico City where there is a large White population (where wearing such symbols could be racist), and a large Jewish population (making the public display of such things less acceptable than in the north), but I digress.
Anyhoo, were Americans buying this Nazi crap? A few. Is it produced and intentionally sold as taboo souvenirs? Partially.
The point is, the stigma attached to those symbols is largely, if not completely, absent down there and perhaps it's a red flag (no pun intended) that their education system could be lacking in the WWII department, but just because they sell items we perceive as racist doesn't mean they're selling them to be racist, and their local demographics let them get away with it. The same goes for the golliwogs in Cardiff. Where the Mexicans see the Nazi symbols to be 'badass' and 'rebellious,' it's likely the Welsh see the caricatures to be 'cute' or 'offbeat' or perhaps even as flattering to black folk, where their exposure to blacks is limited.
Chalk it up to their relative lack of diversity, American ethnocentrism, ignorance, capitalist exploitation - the possibilities are endless, but US ethnocentrism seems to be the culprit here.
Rhys — September 11, 2009
Sure, 'wog' has been a commonwealth slur for decades. I believe it originated in Australia to refer to Greek and Lebanese immigrants. There's an apocryphal etymology 'W.O.G. / Worthy Oriental Gentleman' that has seemingly been discredited in the modern era.
Titanis walleri — September 11, 2009
It looks like a Muppet...
Jennifer — September 11, 2009
I remember my English grandmother buying me a golliwog doll when I was a little kid (early 70s). I had no idea what it signified. Don't know if she did. Just recently I saw golliwog dolls for sale in Tokyo.
A — September 11, 2009
Look up Zwarte Piet--it is interesting what goes on in other countries.
ginsoak — September 11, 2009
By a bizarre coincidence I was speaking with my mother (who's from Derby, England) last night and she mentioned seeing a resurgence in 'Gollies' for sale, and for new knitting patterns she'd found for making your own. We were both surprised by their reappearance; obviously it would seem to be difficult to argue their non-offensiveness to most people these days.
Full disclosure: I have my own Golly in a box somewhere, bought by her at Harrod's in '68 or '69, when she was pregnant with me. Now you should know she is an 'old school' Hippie and the least racist/sexist person I've known; even in '69 she bought that Golly with a sense of (for lack of a better description) 'socio-racial irony'.
However, I have to agree with Rhys on this; there is a big difference in the 'stigma' associated with something so un-PC by American standards and its perception in a UK shop.
I'm certainly not defending Gollies as culturally quaint or inoffensive or appropriate, even a 'post-racist' position would have a hard time with that. I would just suggest viewing them in the same way as a stuffed toy from Disney's Splash Mountain Ride (a somewhat tenuous example). No, Disney doesn't sell stuffed Uncle Remus dolls in overemphasized blackface; I'm just suggesting that sort of context be kept in mind. I find it much more likely that these are being bought/sold out of some sense of nostalgia, not some lessening in racial sensitivity.
That doesn't make them any less offensive now than when mine was bought 'back in the day', but I suspect that with today's Gollies there's a much greater awareness of that questionable correctness than an Ebay listing or a Cardiff window display conveys.
Cara — September 11, 2009
I was going to make a comment that the answer is many people will argue until they're blue in the face that the dolls aren't racist, and people who buy them aren't intending to be racist, and you're just being oversensitive, and maybe even that if you look at the dolls and think it's a representation of a black person, you're the racist ... but Rhys just (accidentally) made my point for me much better than I ever could have. So there you go.
kelebek — September 12, 2009
I moved to Australia from the US two years ago. I was shocked the first time I have seen a Golliwog doll for sale here. There was a hand-knitted one in a craft store a frequent. I asked if I could take a photo of it to the salesperson. She said :"of course" and "I just love these Gollies. I got a house full of them." Right. I am not sure how I feel about a house decorated full with Golliwog dolls.
nonegiven — September 12, 2009
Nah, when the Gollywog dolls were made and love by their kid owners and, especially, the Robertson Jam logo adoption, there were no racist connotations.
The whole thing has been blown out of proportion by the 'politically-correct police' later. A bunch of misguided idiots unable to address real problems of racism, with nothing better to do, who used such ridiculous but visible campaigns to promote their own careers.
I am old enough to have lived through it all, and with generations in the UK going back to 1920s.
It is not in the words, or the dollies folks, but the intention behind the words. A lot of those 'PC' experts are, quite frankly, quite nasty, humorless, pernicious, busybody cunts behind the facade they enforce on others. You would not want to live in a world ruled by them.
Terms like 'darkie' were used innocently, even as terms of endearment. Kids would love their 'gollie' and, to be honest, they were a great thing for race relationships. Little white girls loving little black babies. Even nigger, in the UK, did not have the hard connotations it might have done in America. It was just 'what they were called' like 'Jocks' for the Scots.
I do not know from where the re-invention of them as such hard terms came from. Politics of another time and place ... the race hate, and race hustlers, in America I would guess. You have to remember that before the 1950s, the vast majority of Brits had had no interaction with blacks at all, what interaction they had had was positive and, from the 50s on, what blacks there were in the UK were there because they wanted to be. not forced to be.
It is impossible to "hate" something you have never met. If you doubt me, try asking or reading up on the positive experiences of Black GIs in the UK in comparison to the racism they encountered from the White US Army who treated them like animals, "mules". The White US Army who even had to have special whores just for Blacks to use ... right up until Vietnam.
Your average working Brit has no guilt, no shame, no responsibility for black suffering during the period of slavery onwards. Only a handful of toff families, who were equally shafting native Brits, do.
Don't adopt what the Yanks say ... and don't believe what you read on the Wikipedia folks.
Samantha C — September 12, 2009
y'know, I wish I had something more important to say about them, I really do, but good GOD those are adorable XD I wish it *were* possible to divorce them from their connotations, because that second picture is just so cute. He just looks like the happiest little chap.
it's times like this that start really depressing me about how much racism is built-in to the culture. If I'd seen that toy on vacation, I would totally have snapped it up, assuming it was a cute little character like any other doll, and I'd love playing with it or displaying it. Because I honestly would have had no idea (For the second picture; the other doll is a more obvious stereotype, to my eyes).
Nia — September 12, 2009
About the situation in other countries, and cultural differences: you cannot possibly teach a Spaniard that dressing up or making caricatures of races / cultures is racist. People just don't get it, no matter how many analogies or historical examples you give. This is a very homogeneous country, and dressing up as Chinese, or in blackface, is just standard Halloween practice, with no intentions at all of mocking other people.
There is a very popular, local brand of drinking chocolate with a jingle from the fifties that went "Yo soy aquel negrito/ del África tropical, /que cultivando cantaba / la canción del Cola Cao." (I'm the "darkie" /from tropical Africa / who sang, as he worked on the fields / the Colacao song). The use of "negrito" is now racist (it's just a diminutive and as such, it sounds condescending, as if treating all black people as children). I just made a search, assuming that at some point in its history, Colacao had a golliwog as its logo. To my surprise, they went from a cute (white) toddler, to a woman serving colacao to a girl and a boy, to a quite stylish, slightly abstract representation of a black man and woman sorting out cocoa beans. I think it's very surprising that there has never been a goliwog in the advertising of a company with the word "negrito" in a jingle that has been in use for at least 50 years!
ih — September 12, 2009
I sort of wonder how this discomfort with reproducing old stereotypes comes into play when reprinting old publications.
For instance, there's a court case over the Tintin books right now: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/09/publishers_of_tintin_comic_bei.html
Sarah — September 13, 2009
I find it hard to believe that people don't 'see' gollies as caricatured representations of black people, no matter how supposedly benign in intention.
This summer I was surprised to see a lot of these dolls for sale in a market in Blackpool (a northern English seaside resort), and when I did some googling online later, found this disturbing report in a popular British Sunday paper, the News of the World (a downmarket paper not usually associated with coverage of serious social/political issues!):
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/465772/Angel-faced-racist-aged-12-Girl-burns-golly-at-BNP-fun-day.html
This was exactly the same doll I saw for sale in Blackpool, and leaves no doubt as to how they are perceived, especially by extreme right-wing racists.
As for the British treatment of black soldiers in history, a previous commenter is perhaps unaware of the 1919 race riots and lynch mobs in Liverpool and Cardiff, after the First World War. Demobbed black soldiers and sailors (who had fought for this country) were attacked and killed by racist mobs, and their homes and lodgings destroyed. Read Peter Fryer's 'Staying Power: the history of black people in Britain' if you'd like to learn more about this shameful episode.
Raksha — September 14, 2009
I, too, am baffled by the appeal of modern replicas of old racist imagery. I went to grad school with a Black woman who collected things like this (but Mammy and Pickaninny images in particular) and even she didn't know why they appealed to her! We all came to the conclusion that some day she'd figure it out and would write a brilliant article explaining it, so keep your eyes peeled!
Marge — September 19, 2009
I saw these in North Wales when I was on holiday with friends; one of them (far more couragous than me!) asked the shopkeeper about them in 'confused tourist' mode. Apparently they started making them again a few years ago for the nostalgia market (as other people have mentioned, they were popular in the 60s and before); however, they only get sold in certain places because people do protest about them. Obviously no-one protesting in North Wales.
Note the fact that the people making them and selling them know they're racist - they've dropped the 'wog' and they're only called 'gollys' now. I think this is classic capitalism, "we know we're in the wrong, but you can't prove it and we should make money before we get rumbled".
Jennifer — October 2, 2009
Earlier this summer I found a shop selling these in a town 2 hours north of Toronto, Ontario. They most certainly were new items. They were being sold in a Scottish/ British themed store, right along side the Walkers crisps and plaid magnets.
When I saw them my jaw dropped, because I'd never actually seen one, especially being sold so nonchalantly. I went and asked the sales woman why that store sold racist toys, but she looked at me blankly and said that "golly dollys" were very popular in Britain. I was so shocked I just left the store.
Asians as Kitschy Kitchen Items » Sociological Images — October 10, 2009
[...] examples of modern racial caricatures on sale: golliwogs, mammie souvenirs in Georgia, and an Icelandic reproduction of 10 Little Negro Boys. Leave a [...]
mike — March 2, 2010
People continually judge historical eras by today's standards. Remember, also, that everyone has racism inside them; it is a human trait, so do not deny it ! When most of the idiots on this posting have grown up, they will recognize this fact and come to know that some of the worst racists in the world are blacks themselves. So many have chips on their shoulders the size of sky-scrapers, so let's not dodge the issue. Do not pretend that you do not see people of different colours or that they do not exist. "Golliwogs" as called were harmless toys and grew into a trade mark for a jam company. That is all. If black people bought golliwog dolls and considered them ok., like black dolls, there wouldn't be this hypocritical outcry.
Finally, remember that a lot of countries did well out of slavery which, it should be pointed out, had collusion from blacks in African countries. Slavery would not have taken off, had tribes people not used it as a great way to rid themselves of their enemies in opposing tribes. Oh, and please remember, Britain ended slavery and opposed same years and years before the US states. So get off your pompous high horses....
Russ Williams — November 5, 2011
A similar example is a "vintage/antique" looking boardgame "Darkies in the Melon Patch" with blatantly old-fashioned racist imagery which is apparently in fact a modern product produced with modern technology to look like an old-timey boardgame.
An interesting review/investigation of it is here:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/530453/darkies-in-the-melon-patch-disquieting-and-inconve
Gilbert Pinfold — November 5, 2011
I think these golliwogs c. 2011 (perhaps composed in a display with this web posting) will make an excellent ironic souvenir of the era of political correctness. History has not ended.
Landen — November 5, 2011
I'm sorry, this is REALLY not related, but how do you pronounce vmlojw?
Nathan — November 5, 2011
An unfortunate pop culture side-note: John Fogerty's kick-ass pre-Creedence Clearwater Revival band was also called the Golliwogs. Originally called the Blue Velvets, they were renamed by Fantasy Records co-owner Max Weiss, who apparently was a fan of naming swampy garage bands after offensive stuffed novelties.
Robert Moorehead — November 5, 2011
A Japanese publisher and retail chain have teamed up to release a new Little Black Sambo story, titled "Ufu and Mufu: The Cute Little Twin's Adventure" (in Japanese). The story features Ufu and Mufu, who are Sambo's younger twin siblings. With pitch black skin, giant round eyes, ruby red lips, and bushy Afros, the pickaninny characters have adventures in the jungle with lions and tigers.
The advertising for the book has included 3-story-tall images of the characters on the side of a building in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward.
I've posted pictures and a blog post on the phenomenon:
http://japansociology.com/2011/08/21/blackface-is-back-if-it-ever-left/
Many Japanese describe these characters as "cute" and it's not hard to find blackface merchandising in Japan, although it seems to be less common than it was 10-15 years ago.
Yrro Simyarin — November 5, 2011
So, interestingly... for the first image pictured, if you haven't *told* me that it was supposed to be a racist caricature of a black person, I never would have made the connection. The fact looks like plenty of sort of anthropomorphized animal-ish silly dolls I've seen (ie, a dog with a dark face). I think it's the fuzzy feet and hands - I haven't met many African-Americans with fuzzy hands.
The second one hits the stereotype blackface a little more directly.... but it's just sort of interesting how knowing that it's a golliwogg is some of what makes it offensive. If the first were just a random doll, I don't know you'd jump to it being blackface.
Lisa — November 5, 2011
I find it very interesting that individual people (i.e. not companies) are still making these dolls, and selling them online.
A search for "golly" on Etsy brings up a lot of results - not all for dolls, some are listed under "good golly", "golly, you're swell" etc, but there are still more dolls on the first page than I would have expected. http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=golly&view_type=gallery&ship_to=GB
MadeIt is an Australian website similar to etsy, and only returns eight hits by searching "golly", however, five of these are the dolls. http://www.madeit.com.au/search.asp
I wonder if the people who are crafting these are older crafters, or the younger resurgence? Although there is data available on the demographics of shoppers who visit Etsy, there is no information (that I could find) on the sellers.
April — November 6, 2011
I'm from Australia and I've been shocked at how these seem to be making a comeback. I've seen many gift shops that sell them brand new and mass-produced.
My mother has two golliwogs and we frequently get into debates about them being racist. She claims to like them as she had one as a child (she's in her late 40s now, so this would've been in the 1960s) and doesn't think they are racist at all. Many people around the same age who I've talked to about golliwogs seem to have a similarly nostalgic view of them. Another popular argument that I have heard from a few people, including my mother, is that if they were white dolls no one would care. This argument is generally followed by suggestions that people who are offended by them are either too sensitive or somehow racist themselves for seeing the dolls as racist. This argument, because of its sheer dodginess is generally hard to reply to, but this article, and the comments, shall offer new support for me the next time it comes up!
KMM — November 6, 2011
I got mine, in the late 70s, because I read Noddy books and adored the Gollies in them. I was a first-generation Canadian kid in an English family; somebody sent word and one arrived in a box from the UK. My parents were very socially progressive near-hippies, but wise enough to spare me any explanations about the doll at a tender age.
He was the "leader" of a group of six dolls I cherished for most of my childhood...
I now have a 4yo daughter who has been given the Noddy books and Messrs Golly and Wog. [And the dolls Golly was 'leader' of.] I feel very odd about giving her things I would rather have hidden when some people come by to visit. Yes, they are racist caricatures, horrible to think about their dark history. But the little me who was so happy to get the box from England so many years ago would never have seen that in a million years; they were a toy like any other in Noddy's Toyland. [The golliwogs have been removed from more recent editions fo the books.] While it sometimes feels weird offering these to my daughter, it would feel more weird to deny her toys and stories I so enjoyed.Later on they will be an instructive history lesson. A friend once commented that I 'had the only golliwogs not on display in an 'Images of Post-Colonialism' exhibit'... But right now they are very sweet-looking toys that she does not, as I did not, even begin to associate with black humans. Racism is complex but one does not, in an otherwise sane environment, catch it off of dolls, even these ones.
Teddy Hernandez — November 6, 2011
We had an awkward situation when a friend of ours gave us a doll much like the ones above as a present. We felt slightly uncomfortable; we're (just) old enough to remember when the 'Golliwog' biscuits were pulled from Australian supermarket shelves for obvious reasons back in the 80's. Our friend was genuinely bemused, and we explained the history of the dolls. It was evident that our friend was truly oblivious to the history and semiotics of the doll, and because of the quite innocent motivations - they genuinely thought it was a cute doll - we still have it today.
It's still a smidge awkward to explain to guests why we have it, and we're happy to relay the innocent reasons behind the original gift-giving; in fact, we highlight that our friend was convinced it was just a super-cute doll, not a racial or cultural caricature, but also readily note that this may indeed be an isolated example.
But yes, in conclusion, my wife and I are not convinced society is 'post-racial' enough to be entirely comfortable with the sale of new dolls of this type (though we're not fully convinced either that the stereotype depicted has much currency either as a medium and perpetrator of racial stereotypes). We did find it charming that our friend was an exception that rule, and it makes for an interesting discussion point, with our slight discomfort assuaged by the manner in which we received it.
Also, pertinently, you may be interested in this article from Melbourne, Australia. Former Victorian Premier, and current chairman of Australia Football League (a sporting code that actively promotes and encourages high levels of participation by Indigenous Australians) club Hawthorn Hawks, has a collection of the dolls and named one after a player at the club.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/good-golly-jeff-kennett-is-at-it-again/story-e6frf7jo-1226085138438
Now that, I feel, is really off...
Lena — November 6, 2011
My mother sent two golliwogs to my young children earlier this year. She's originally from Australia and picked them up there. I didn't have the heart to have a long conversation with her over Skype, so I just tucked them away when they arrived. She'll be visiting soon so I guess I'll have to come clean then. I've thought about buying a Raggedy Anne and Andy as replacements, and then maybe pulling out the dolls mom sent in a few years, when my children will grok things a bit more...
Pentti Hirvonen — November 7, 2011
I grew up in a monoculture, and I am painfully aware of my lack of sensitivity.
How would one make a set of raggedy-ann and raggedy-andy dolls in multiple ethnicities without them being offensively stereotyped caricatures?
//Pirvonen, Finland
Leslie — November 7, 2011
Very interesting - I had never heard of golliwogs before this post, and as a young pianist I learned the Debussy piece "Golliwog's Cakewalk" without ever suspecting! It's funny, because I remember my music teacher using it to tell me about what cakewalks were, but I don't remember her mentioning anything about Golliwogs. I assumed it was just a guy's name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Corner
Ehad007 — November 8, 2011
Hi all,
I am a graduate student in the Sociology Department at the University of Auckland and we had a related story recently here in New Zealand.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Airport-Golliwogs-cause-WTF-moment-for-Big-Boi/tabid/367/articleID/223651/Default.aspx
Really unfortunate that these items are still being sold and distrubuted; people just can not seem to realise the embodied racism these artifacts carry.
Jksharp1 — December 3, 2011
I have a golly wog that my aunt knitted for me when I was born in 1951. I have never looked at him "Timmy" as a racist item. He was as precious to me as my son's blankie was to him..
rational — August 29, 2014
Read the original stories! The fact it looks like someone from one of the African racial groups is possibly true, but Golliwog was actually a friendly and benign character. He was a polite individual, and only in later years were there even any of these characters who could be considered "sinister" (another word that has been corrupted! Coming, as it does, from the Latin for "left"). He is also a dapper chap, even if music hall used this style too.
Tying it in with any Afro- racial group is racist, and I don't believe a gnome is human. Golliwog (one character) was a gnome. If the child is allowed to decide his characteristics, he might not be a figure of hate but a figure to love (don't let any racists come near the child!).
Vivian Lee — August 24, 2016
I've never seen one for sale in the US.
Brown People — August 21, 2019
It amazes me that Caucasians are unaware that they are similar to Albinos. ? Guess who gets the last laugh. ???
Anonymous — July 5, 2020
Golliwo
Kay Greenwood — July 5, 2020
Golliwogs are just black versions of Raggedy Ann dolls. They all have the same bulging eyes and woolly hair, only different-coloured.
Society ruined the doll, not vice versa.
Gina — February 20, 2021
I have a full set of these band players a set of 6 all in perfect conditions wanting to sell