Need to pick up a racist toy for your kid? Until recently you could have gotten one courtesy of the Queen of England.
At one of the Queen's estates, amongst the Queen Elizabeth II memorabilia, castle snow globes and commemorative decorative teaspoons, you can get your self some good old school racism in the form of a Golliwog doll. The Golliwog is a minstrel like rag doll character created by the children’s author Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century. The doll depicted in her books became a popular toy and was widely produced until the 1960s until people realized “oh wait, this is pretty uncool.” But the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk apparently didn’t get the memo.
The 20,000-acre estate was, until very recently, selling the doll in their gift shop. But don’t blame the queen, “Buckingham Palace has stressed that the Queen is not personally involved in deciding what is sold in the shop.” They stated they didn’t mean to offend anyone and have taken them off the shelves.
Is the selling of this doll an act of remembering history or a racist statement?
Also check out the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University here for more Golliwog info.
Source: AP
Image via Wikipedia
