Popular craft site Etsy accused of racism for selling Sambo, Golliwog memorabilia

Alongside a hand-knitted tea cozy, consumers can also purchase Black Sambo ashtrays and Aunt Jemima cookie jars using the e-commerce engine.

alexisgarrettstodghill

Oct 12, 2012

Some are questioning why the online seller, which does not feature similar items that might offend people of other minority groups, defends the right of certain buyers to access such imagery via the site.

Lindy West of women’s site Jezebel offers, “I mean, I GUESS the historical ‘artifacts’ can maybe be justified as perverse collectors’ items for people who want to maintain an awareness of our nation’s ugly past.” Yet that does not explain why so many Etsy sellers are in fact marketing newly made items such as dolls made to order — even patterns for creating your own golliwog doll.

Of the 70 pieces that the petition cites as violating the Etsy policy, many are related to versions of a controversial figure known as the golliwog. A black character that is primitive in appearance, it has been popular in Europe for decades. The golliwog could be compared to America’s Sambo — but is a lot more sinister.

“The Golliwog is characterized by jet black skin, bulging white-rimmed eyes, disproportionately big red lips and a shock of black frizzy hair and is essentially a ‘minstrel doll,'” Mack explains. “Writer Enid Blyton adapted the [golliwog] to her Noddy books. They were consistently horribly ugly black creatures who were rude and nasty and always villains.”

Richard Seymour of The Guardian expounds on this history further in a piece decrying the doll’s continuing popularity in Great Britain.

“Perhaps it would be useful to discuss the tradition of dehumanising racist caricature to which these dolls belong. The English-American author Florence Upton invented the golliwog in a series of picture books produced at the onset of the Jim Crow laws, which mandated racial segregation in the American South. She described the character as ‘a horrid sight, the blackest gnome.’ He was clothed in the same apparel as the black-faced minstrels then prevalent in Europe and North America,” Seymour writes.

“He had thick lips, unruly black hair, and his hands and feet were paws,” the writer continues. “The golliwog, like many related stereotypes of ‘primitive’ black people (‘picaninnies,’ minstrels, ‘mammies’ and so on), quickly found a commercial market, producing a flood of cartoons and advertising imagery.”

There have been many efforts in Europe to encourage the public to understand that the golliwog is seen as dehumanizing to blacks — and have it banned. Still, golliwog dolls persist in enchanting certain market segments — and Etsy is willing to meet this demand, even at the expense of offending blacks and others who are sensitive to what these dolls symbolize.

“The issue I have is that a lot of the items in question may not be vintage,” writes Yesha Callahan of Clutch Magazine regarding the controversy. “There are patterns being sold for people who’d be interested in making their own Golliwog dolls. Why anyone would want to purchase a pattern to make their own is beyond me. There is definitely a place for different types of nostalgic items to be bought and sold, but if Etsy has policies then maybe Etsy should abide by their own rules.”

Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb.