"Mammy" cloth doll with a red and floral dress and a matching floral kerchief: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A female cloth doll with a red and floral dress and a matching floral kerchief in the form of a stereotypical "Mammy" character. The doll has a soft, black cloth head and body with rounded cloth hands and feet. The head and torso of the doll are made with smooth woven fabric, the arms are made from a rib-knit fabric, and the legs are made from plain knit with seams across the top of the feet. The eyes are constructed from small, flat, round mother-of-pearl shell buttons. The button representing the proper left eye is chipped. The nostrils and mouth are embroidered in red thread. The doll has pigtails on either side of her face that have been secured with gold, green, and red yarn. The bodice of the doll’s dress is a red triangle of cloth that covers the back with the ends crossing over in the front and sewn to the red waistband below creating a front cross halter neckline. At the top center of the front neckline is a piece of yellow yarn tied into a bow and knotted with green and red yarn fragments. The waistband ties in a bow at the back. Sewn to the bottom of the waistband is a white skirt with a red, yellow, blue, and green flower and foliate pattern. The skirt extends halfway down the doll’s legs. She also has a matching floral kerchief and bloomers.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: mid 20th century
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Type: cloth dolls
• Medium: mother of pearl and thread on cloth with batting and yarn
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 14 1/8 × 8 7/8 × 2 3/16 in. (35.9 × 22.5 × 5.5 cm)
• Place used: Texas, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Amusements
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Domestic life
• Topic: Families
• Topic: Race relations
• Object number: 2023.11.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Linda M. Sheffield
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown – Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.