Dolls are a popular object of study for scholars, and have been so for years. There are multiple scholars who used dolls as a way to examine the race in childhood. Some prominent literature focuses on how dolls are co-created with society. In her earlier work, Bernstein (2009) focuses on how material culture, generally, is co-create with society. She notes that “agency, intention, and racial subjectivation” come together to create societal scripts of certain objects (69). In her later work, Bernstein (2011) talks explicitly of scripted dolls, revealing the racialized nature of play white children engaged in when using black dolls. Other scholars note the effect societal beliefs regarding race infiltrated material culture. Thomas (2005) explains how society’s view of black bodies motivated doll manufacturers to create certain types of black dolls so that white children could engage with these dolls in very scripted ways. Frever (2009) writes how these social beliefs permeated material culture even further through the portrayal of dolls and non-white children in popular literature. Wilkinson (1987) looks at the actual physical makeup of racialized dolls as well as their advertising to show how they recreate society’s derogatory view of black children. The societal scripts used to dictate how children engaged with black dolls and how these dolls were advertised, also reinforced the idea that black dolls were less important than white dolls. Formanek-Brunell (1993) discusses how doll manufacturing was used to reinforce United States superiority over Germany in World War One. In this discussion, Formanek-Brunell mentions how the dolls being produced were white, bisque dolls, once again, showing the exclusion of black children from U.S. national identity.
Moving beyond how dolls are created, the literature discusses the effects dolls have on the children who engage with them in play. More than just learning societal scripts of how white and black children, scholars study how portrayals of dolls effect children psychologically along racial lines. Thomas (2005) argues that observing the ways in which white children treated black dolls and how society-at-large refereed to black dolls, reinforced a message of white superiority in the youth (2005). Frever (2009) examines Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, to show the psychological effect having only white dolls (who were revered as beautiful by society) had on young, black girls. Noting this phenomenon, other scholars report on the importance of black children having black dolls who look like them. Patterson (1994) discusses the creation of the Sara Lee Doll in the 1940s. The Sara Lee Doll was an attempt at creating an “anthropologically correct” black doll that would not have such disastrous psychological effects on the black children who played with it (148). Raynor (2008) discusses her experience of receiving her first black Barbie doll and how that positively impacted her view of herself. Raynor’s account, and her own scholarly research, emphasizes the importance of this research.