In the 90s, everyone knew about the American Girl Dolls and accompanying book series. The catalogs came to every home that had a little girl, and I would spend hours pouring over the pages, taking in every detail. I had 2 favorite American Girls: Molly and Addy. I loved Molly because we were identical as you can see, and Addy specifically because we were so different. Even as a child I was fascinated by the subtle differences in eye and nose shape, hair texture, and skin tone from person to person – It’s no surprise that my favorite subject to draw or paint is still people, and when looking at other artists’ work I am heavily drawn to creations centered around figures and portraits. I never wanted any of my Barbies or other dolls to all look like me, or all look the same as each other. I was definitely NOT the girl who had a case of 5 classic blonde barbies! What was different about American girl for that time was the fact that their face sculpts and hair textures actually varied by ethnicity (first with Addy, and then later with Josefina and Kaya), whereas with Barbies and other dolls there would always be a white option or a black option, but the black doll was just the white one painted brown!
I saved up the 80 bucks for my Addy doll myself, dollars (and sometimes quarters!) at a time, doing extra chores and kid friendly odd jobs. I kept track of my progress with a special American Girl sticker chart, and when the last spot was filled I knew I’d made it!
The Addy books themselves also stood out from others in the series. The American Girls series chronicled different 10-year-old girls’ daily life as they existed during different pivotal times in American history. While they all involved a degree of challenge and hardship, Addy’s story was about her actually being held captive in slavery in the first book, and escaping with her family through the underground railroad. Though of course things were even more harrowing in real life than we could ever image, the author of Addy’s books did not hide or sugarcoat the tragedy simply because the books were aimed at children. My mom and I read them together, a chapter or two each night, and they talked about Addy being abused for not working fast enough, her older brother being whipped for speaking up for her, having to leave her baby sister behind with elderly relatives who also could not make the journey because she might make noise or cry and give them away as they were escaping. The stories honestly gave a clearer picture of injustice than lessons learned in school at the time.
American Girl still exists, though it is no longer owned by the original company. There is less focus on the history aspect, and for awhile Addy and her accompanying books and accessories were actually not available any longer, though they did bring her back by customer demand.
There is something about seeing the world through the eyes of another kid your age as they grow up in unimaginable circumstances, with problems you will never have to face. Yes, it’s just a doll and some historical fiction books but more than that it teaches empathy which is invaluable. We can hope that kids that learn how to see the world from another’s perspective will grow up to be adults with empathy as well, that aim to understand and support others through challenges that they themselves may never face, just because we are all human.
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