Youth, Imagination, and Play During Segregation

FAIN: HR-50085-04

Sabrina L. Thomas
North Carolina Central University (Durham, NC 27707-3129)

In "Black Women's Memories: An Oral History of Doll Play," I examine how black women born within the first half of the 20th century used doll play to act out, negotiate, or challenge existing notions of race and race relations. "Black Women's Memories" is the third and final section of my first book entitled "The Ritual of Doll Play and Children's Early Understandings of Race in the United States, 1900-1950." A semi-structured interview format is used. "Black Women's Memories" illuminates the existence of childhood and the agency of children within the Jim Crow era and interrogates contemporary discourse on race, child development, and doll play. It provides a textured linkage between the fields of Child Development, Women's Studies, American History, and African-American Studies.