Saturday, October 17, 2009



Australia: Golliwogs in trouble again





Golliwogs were originally an American invention but were never popular there. They WERE from the beginning based on the appearance of Africans. For generations, however, they have been a popular soft toy for children in Britain and in Australia, where American race tensions were absent. The "global village" of TV, films and the internet has however brought American sensitivites to the rest of the word and a treasured feature of British and Australian childhood is under threat. I had a golliwog myself when I was a little kid. All is not lost, however, Anne (the lady in my life) recently found what she sees as a "pretty" golliwog (one dressed as a little girl) in a shop somewhere in Brisbane and has bought one as a gift for an expected baby. So that baby will grow up with fond memories of her golliwog too
"They were popular toys for generations of children but now golliwogs have become casualties of the Hey, Hey It's Saturday blackface controversy - banished to the back of some shops to keep them out of the public eye. Melbourne toy store Dafel, which has sold dolls and bears for more than 70 years, relocated golliwogs from its window display to deeper inside the shop where the soft, cloth toys are less visible to passing shoppers.

Sources said the golliwogs were moved the morning after a singing troupe's controversial performance on the second Hey, Hey reunion show. The troupe's Red Faces send-up of Michael Jackson sparked international outrage when guest star Harry Connick Jr condemned their performance.

Some toy shop owners claimed that before the controversy golliwogs were enjoying a new popularity with children, the Herald Sun reports. "In multi-cultural Melbourne, our little customers should be allowed to walk in and select a doll of any colour or any race of their choice," said Diarne Revelle of Golliwog's Toy Store in Brighton. "Kids aren't racist and they don't relate to their dolls as being black or white, to them they are their little friends and that's it. "We are imposing adult sensibilities on childish desire and fancy. Kids aren't racists - golliwogs to them are bright, friendly toys, dolls, scallywags." ...

Staff at Dafel, a specialist doll store in Melbourne's The Block Arcade, declined to comment. The Block Arcade's centre manager Don Parsons yesterday denied telling Dafel to change its front display.

SOURCE

7 comments:

J. Birch said...

TV and films have not brought American sensitivites to the rest of the world. What is being spread (like the freedom-killing virus that it is) is Amerika's addiction to political correctness. And for those of you around the world who don't believe PC is something that must be fought at every turn, everywhere, you are in for a very unpleasant surprise!

BTW, isn't that Cynthia McKinny (sp) in that picture? If it is, she's the anti-White, black radical, and former member of the US congress, (she was thrown out for assaulting a White DC Police Officer) who is now an "international" agitator.

Anonymous said...

Fact check alert: golliwags were created in England, not in the United States.

Secondly, according to Wikipedia and other sources, term was considered a racist remark in England and the Commonwealth almost immediately after the publication of the book in which they first appeared.

Sorry John Ray, your attempt to place this on America is factually inaccurate.

jonjayray said...

"Florence Kate Upton was born in 1873 in Flushing, New York,"

She was the originator of the name

jonjayray said...

Her book was published in Boston and it was based on the American blackface minstrel tradition

jonjayray said...

See the book here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16770/16770-h/16770-h.htm

Anonymous said...

She was the originator of the name

I agree. Upton moved from the US back to her parents original country of England at the age of 19 in 1893. Upton did not return to the US and worked for English companies. She died at the age of 49 and is buried outside of London. Thus my statement that golliwags were created in England is correct. While they were successful in the US, they were not as successful as in England and the Commonwealth.

The book was first published not in Boston as you assert, but by the British firm of Longman, Green and Company in 1895. The Boston publication printed by DeWolfe, Greene was printed shortly after that and following the success of the Longman printing in England and the Commonwealth.

JR said...

The pic above is of course the huge ego known as McKinney