Black Dolls Like Me: The Soul of an African American Fabric Artist

At the age of 44, literally out of the blue, I decided to sew a doll because I felt that the black dolls on the internet lacked feminine, sensuality or looked like white dolls covered in brown paint. Many of the African American dolls had Aunt Jemima rags on their heads and distorted facial features. I thought no, no, no-- this is not an accurate representation of black women in America; we are sassy, sexy, and authentically beautiful.

I made my first doll tongue and cheek and named her Rebecca after my paternal grandmother who taught me how to hand sew doll clothes when I was around 5-years-old.

I loved to make clothes for my Barbie Dolls and my brothers’ Big Jim and Star Trek action figures. I never made anything special or elaborate, I mainly developed a love for fabric and sewing pieces together. I stopped sewing when I was 8-years-old after an eye of a sewing needle broke off into my left knee causing a gangrene infection that nearly cost me my left leg; and ultimately preventing me from being able to bend my left knee completely for the rest of my life.

I never touched a sewing needle again until 36-years later.
In this book, I will narrate you through my crazy picturesque journey of making black dolls up until the Jungle Beauty Goddesses. Every doll that I have ever made is anatomically correct because in my mind it is insulting to leave the genital area of the human body blank as if it is dirty or taboo. Not all pictures are nude, but I must warn you that if you are offended by nude representations of the human body, this book is not for you.