Revealing Iris' Dolls

Iris's dolls. Photo courtesy of David Kessler.

Thanks to Dana Dorman of First Person Arts, I recently had my first opportunity to view Iris's dolls, the objects I am researching in preparation for the opening of the First Person Museum this November.

The photograph above shows a number of Iris's dolls, two of which will appear in the museum exhibit. According to a report from Dana, Iris makes these dolls herself. As I have discovered in my research, homemade black dolls have a long heritage in the U.S.

I posted this picture (with permission from First Person Arts) because I thought readers of this blog might be interested in learning more about Iris's dolls specifically, even as they read more general research about the historical, social, and cultural context of black dolls.