doll: Terri Lee Doll

Between 1937 and 1956, Jackie Ormes, known as the first African American woman cartoonist, delighted readers of African American newspapers with comics featuring Torchy Brown, Candy, Patty-Jo, and Ginger. In the late 1940, Terri Lee Doll Company produced a Patty-Jo doll based on Ormes' character. The company's line of black dolls has received mixed reviews. Some consumers embraced an African American doll with playable features like hair and extensive wardrobes. Others, like doll collector and author Debbie Behan Garret, have voiced concerns. Garret felt that "the black dolls were painted as though they were angry. That was subtle racism in doll manufacture."