Golliwogg

The Golliwogg (later golliwog) is a ragdoll-like, children's literary character created by Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century. The Golliwogg was inspired by a blackface minstrel doll Upton had as a child in America. Historically very popular in Europe, the doll has become the subject of a great deal of controversy— particularly with ever-increasing ethnic diversity of the resident European population— over whether it should be preserved and passed on as a cherished cultural artifact and childhood tradition, or retired as a relic of an earlier time when anti-black racism was as casual as it was blatant.

The child of English parents, Upton and her family moved to England when she was fourteen. There she spent several years drawing and developing her artistic skills. In order to afford tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg. The 1895 book included a character named the "Golliwogg", who was described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome". A product of the racist blackface minstrel tradition, the character was classic "darky" iconography. The Golliwogg had jet black skin; bright, red lips; and wild, wooly hair. He sported red trousers, a shirt with a stiff collar, red bow-tie, and a blue jacket with tails — all traditional formal minstrel attire.

Upton's book and its many sequels were extremely successful in England, largely because of the popularity of the Golliwogg, which became the generic name for dolls and images of a similar type, spelled "golliwog". The golliwog doll became a popular children's toy well into the 20th century, and was incorporated into many aspects of British commerce and culture; for instance, some of Enid Blyton's books feature them. Although Upton's Golliwogg was jovial and friendly, later golliwogs would be portrayed as sinister, and even menacing characters.

The golliwog contributed enormously to the spread of darky iconography in Europe. It also made its way back across the Atlantic in the form of children's literature, dolls, children's china and other toys, ladies' perfume, and jewelry.

British jam manufacturer James Robertson & Sons used a golliwog called Golly as its mascot from 1910, after John Robertson apparently saw children playing with golliwog dolls in America. Robertson's started producing promotional Golly badges in the 1920s, which could be exchanged for tokens gained from their products. In 1983, the company's products were boycotted by the Greater London Council as offensive, and in 1988 the character ceased to be used in television advertising. It was dropped altogether in 2001, and replaced with Roald Dahl characters. Robertson's claimed the decision to retire Golly was simply a commercial decision and had nothing to do with accusations of racism. Today, Robertson's Golly badges remain highly collectable, with the very rarest sometimes selling for more than £1,000, and even comparatively common and recent badges being worth £2.00–£3.00.

In his 1947 novel, The Chequer Board, British novelist Nevil Shute depicts the children's doll as an influence on adult behavior:

Because he was uncertain what to do, he put his arms round her and kissed her... For a moment she yielded... then fear came to her, irrational, stark fear. When she was a little child, somebody had given her a golliwog, a black doll with staring white eyes and black curly hair, dressed in a blue coat with red trousers. It had terrified her; whenever she saw it she had screamed with fright so that it had been given to a less sensitive child. Now at the age of seventeen the same stark fear came back to her. What she had been subconsciously afraid of all her life had happened. The golliwog had got her.

After the publication of Upton's first book, the term "golliwog" was used both as a reference to the children's toy and as a generic, racist term for blacks. In England and its colonies, the word "wog", which dictionaries indicate is probably derived from "golliwog", became an ethnic slur applied to dark-skinned peoples worldwide, from Africa and the Caribbean to Australia and India. According to David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology at Michigan's Ferris State University:

Golliwog is a racial slur in Germany, England, Ireland, Greece, and Australia. Interestingly, it is sometimes applied to dark-skinned Whites, as well as brown-skinned persons. Golliwog is also a common name for black pets, especially dogs, in European countries — much as nigger was once popular as a pet name.

In the early 1980s, revised editions of Edith Blyton's Noddy books replaced Mr Golly, the gollywog proprietor of the Toytown garage, with a teddy bear.

In 2004, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked a "GOLIWOG" license plate as offensive.

Golliwog was also World War II British naval slang for a Gauloise cigarette, which had tobacco which was nearly black in color.

See also

• Blackface
• Minstrel show

References

• Clean plates (http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050306/news_mz1c6plates.html) GOLIWOG license plate
• Wog (http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/ahdsearch?search_type=enty&query=wog&db=ahd&Submit=Search) American Heritage Dictionary etymology, "Probably short for golliwog"
• Furst, Alan (2004) Dark Voyage, Random House, Random House, ISBN 1400060184: "It was a Gauloise—what British seamen called a golliwog..."

External links

• "The Golliwog Caricature," Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia (http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/golliwog/) Article by David Pilgrim, Ferris State University, MIchigan