This is a Black Doll Affair cancellation notification and an update to the below press release. Very concerned about proceeding with The Black Doll Affair Tacoma Launch, we’ve decided that postponing is best. Scheduled in an intimate setting for Saturday, Aug. 21st, the decision to cancel wasn’t easy, as I was so excited to celebrate hue and meet my new Dolls! The number of COVID-19 cases reported in Tacoma have been rising and with the Delta variant present, there is an increased health threat to our community. So wherever your travels take you this Saturday, please be safe. At a later date in an environment where we feel more comfortable playing with Black Dolls, we’ll be back, and in touch.

Mama Doll,
Founder
The Black Doll Affair

Media Inquiries: Text: (404) 660-7363

 In Celebration of Pretty...Philanthropic Living Dolls Making their neighborhoods more dolling, The Black Doll Affair Women & Girls Empowerment Movement Launches in Tacoma, Washington!

 Tacoma, WA. --- August 1, 2021 - Since its 2007 inception, The Black Doll Affair self-esteem movement has been making its way around the globe! Now, one of the most important self-esteem movements in the country is parking in the PNW. Tacoma-Seattle, it's your time to "Be a Doll, give a doll!" 

In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments, known as "the doll tests," to study the psychological effects of segregation on African-American children. Drs. Clark used dolls, identical except for color, to test children's racial perceptions. The children, ages three to seven, were asked to identify both the race of the dolls and which color doll they preferred. A majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that prejudice, discrimination and segregation created a feeling of inferiorty among African-American chldren and damaged their self-esteem. A theory we now know as internalized racism.   

In 2006, Dana "Mama Doll" Hill, Founder of The Black Doll Affair, witnessed a doll test on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Horrified that in the new millenia Black children were still choosing the black doll as bad, ugly and least preferred, in December 2007 she threw what was supposed to be a one-time Christmas party as a solution to "the doll tests". At the holiday party, Black women arrived in black T-shirts that read "Black Doll ''and were asked to leave the young girls with a beautiful black Barbie doll. While "The Black Dolls" shared their own empowering personal stories, and presented the children with the message of "Black IS beautiful', there wasn't a dry eye at the party. Women of other races were named the Porcelain Pal Dolls. They were asked to arrive at The Black Doll Affair wearing a white T-shirt that reflected: "Doll of The Black Doll Affair." A diverse racial makeup of men, known as the Black Doll Brothas, supported the Black & Porcelain Dolls by arriving at the party wearing a T-shirt that read: "Black Doll Brotha in Support of The Black Doll Affair."  When the Dolls arrived at the first Black Doll Affair wearing their Doll tees, with a Barbie to donate, this ceremonious gesture became known as "Be a Doll, give a doll" and it swept the nation! People all over the US became Dolls of The Black Doll Affair.  Soon Dolls wanted to host "Be a Doll, give a doll' self-esteem Christmas parties in their own neighborhoods, just like the first-ever Black Doll Affair that Mama Doll threw in 2007. Those Doll became Ambassadolls (ambassadors). With the mission of wanting the Dolls to reverse the way Black women and girls are perceived, and, more importantly, perceived themselves, Mama Doll asked the Dolls to help her counteract the trending "bad Black girl" persona on reality tv and make the news by helping people in need. She called that being "Pretty...Philanthropic."  

The movement, the pretty...philanthropic members - from over 40 U.S. states and Canada - and the Founding Doll received Barack Obama's Presidential Service Award. The late Congressman John Lewis recognized the Dolls with a Congressional Recognition and an invitation into his Washington, DC office.  In the same neighborhood that raised Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue proclaimed December 12th as "The Black Doll Affair Day" in the state of Georgia, which is the headquarters playground of The Black Doll Affair. The Black Dolls and their Affairs have been mentioned in college level textbooks, on local TV shows and across national airwaves like the Tom Joyner Morning Show. The Black Dolls can be seen in iconic magazines such as Essence, Oprah, Vogue and Vanity Fair.

Over the years, the Black Dolls have become the largest consumer group of Black Barbie, and thereby, received support from both Mattel and Macy's. When Prince Harry made Meghan his Princess, The Black Doll Affair movement garnered an international boost when  ABC Primetime, Time Life and People Magazine featured them in their documentary, "The Story of the Royals".

On May 17, 1954, after hearing The Clarks' testimony and witnessing 'the doll tests', the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, outlawing racial segregation in our Nation's schools. Brown v. Board of Education declared that education "must be made available to all on equal terms" and demanded that America's promise exclude no one. To honor the 60th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board in Topeka Kansas, the Brown family invited Mama Doll to speak about the effects of 'the doll tests" then and today. Before speaking at The Brown Foundation dinner gala, Mayor Larry Wolgast (2013-2018) gave Mama Doll "the Button to the City of Topeka." Following that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Topeka, Mama Doll said her connection to the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case, combined with witnessing a keynote speech from the former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and having Cheryl Brown, the late Linda Brown and Leola Brown become Honorary Dolls of The Black Doll Affair empowered her to continue moving the movement around the world. She's done just that. 

On August, 21, 2021, while selecting and celebrating living Dolls in the Tacoma-Seattle area and honoring historic courtroom results that champion civil rights, The Black Doll Affair will launch in Court House Square's Historic Boldt Courtroom (4th floor), where so many civil liberties have been acknowledged and upheld, in downtown Tacoma, WA. Expected to be a kickoff Affair to remember, The Black Doll Affair's "Launch & Learn" is requiring that all attendees wear masks.

To become a Doll, there are NO membership fees, just buy a Doll tee on blackdollaffair.com. To nominate a Black Doll, Porcelain Doll or Black Doll Brotha, text the Doll Phone at (404) 660-7363. To learn more about The Black Doll Affair, go to blackdollaffair.com For tickets via Eventbrite, go here.

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