Doll Storytellers: Authors, Advocates, Activists, Filmmakers, and Photographers: (List will be updated as we continue to interview people for this category.)
- Ama Gueye, Black doll advocate, Black doll enthusiast, founder of Operation Sankofa (from Britain, Ghana, and Senegal)
- Debbie Behan Garrett, Black doll advocate, Black doll enthusiast, griot, and author (from the US)
Ama Gueye (PODCAST: To hear the interview, visit our podcasts page. )
Ama Gueye conceived of Operation Sankofa to create opportunities for (black) doll designers, makers, manufacturers, distributors, collectors and consumers to meet for mutual exchange and benefit: To provide a platform to access appealing, available and affordable black dolls here in the UK, and countries in Africa and the Caribbean. The simple act of trying to find a doll that looked ‘just like me’ (a person of African descent with melanin rich, darker hued skin tones), has mushroomed into a task far more complex than first imagined. In fact, it prompted the wondrous journey of seeking knowledge and resources with the help and support of individual members of family and friends, various voluntary organisations, charities and commercial institutions willing to contribute in a positive way that will enhance our awareness of who we truly are – enriching all our lives.
It’s only when we seriously begin to question our purpose in life, or someone asks us who we are that we start scrambling around looking for clues and some hard evidence to support our claim to knowing who we are. When you are comfortable in your own skin, you are able to achieve whatever your heart desires. You are then open to endless possibilities, resulting in a life that is happy and fulfilled! Let’s start by giving our children appropriate resources, including Black Dolls, to enhance their learning as they play!
Ama Gueye, a retired school teacher came to England in the early 1960’s at the age of 12 to join her Mother. The experiences of those early years in a Britain ‘struggling’ to deal with the influx of invited, but unwelcomed African and African – Caribbean Folk, informed her academic choices and community involvement. After initial Teacher Training in Brighton, Sussex, it was back to the East End of London working and living in the Borough of Newham. Throughout the 1970’s Ama became active both professionally and voluntarily in helping to improve educational standards for Black Children; working within multicultural and anti-racist projects; sitting on advisory boards for both the statutory and voluntary sectors; supporting the setting up of several educational fora and Saturday/ Supplementary schools in and around London. This is also the period when the Women’s Movement was in full swing and Ama helped to launch OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent) and, subsequently co-founded ELBWO (the East London Black Women’s Organisation) in 1979 which still operates to this day. It was then a natural progression to be a Spokesperson on behalf of Black (African Descent) Women and Children – reporting as part of a delegation to various Government Committees and attending the United Nations World Conferences on Women. The founding of Operation Sankofa: ‘I want one just like me!’ during this retirement phase, allows time for Ama to ‘put her money where her mouth is’ in her passion for promoting and celebrating Black Dolls as a continuation of the true commitment to uplifting African and Caribbean People’s heritage.
To learn more about Ama and Operation Sankofa: https://operationsankofa.com/
Ama Gueye conceived of Operation Sankofa to create opportunities for (black) doll designers, makers, manufacturers, distributors, collectors and consumers to meet for mutual exchange and benefit: To provide a platform to access appealing, available and affordable black dolls here in the UK, and countries in Africa and the Caribbean. The simple act of trying to find a doll that looked ‘just like me’ (a person of African descent with melanin rich, darker hued skin tones), has mushroomed into a task far more complex than first imagined. In fact, it prompted the wondrous journey of seeking knowledge and resources with the help and support of individual members of family and friends, various voluntary organisations, charities and commercial institutions willing to contribute in a positive way that will enhance our awareness of who we truly are – enriching all our lives.
It’s only when we seriously begin to question our purpose in life, or someone asks us who we are that we start scrambling around looking for clues and some hard evidence to support our claim to knowing who we are. When you are comfortable in your own skin, you are able to achieve whatever your heart desires. You are then open to endless possibilities, resulting in a life that is happy and fulfilled! Let’s start by giving our children appropriate resources, including Black Dolls, to enhance their learning as they play!
Ama Gueye, a retired school teacher came to England in the early 1960’s at the age of 12 to join her Mother. The experiences of those early years in a Britain ‘struggling’ to deal with the influx of invited, but unwelcomed African and African – Caribbean Folk, informed her academic choices and community involvement. After initial Teacher Training in Brighton, Sussex, it was back to the East End of London working and living in the Borough of Newham. Throughout the 1970’s Ama became active both professionally and voluntarily in helping to improve educational standards for Black Children; working within multicultural and anti-racist projects; sitting on advisory boards for both the statutory and voluntary sectors; supporting the setting up of several educational fora and Saturday/ Supplementary schools in and around London. This is also the period when the Women’s Movement was in full swing and Ama helped to launch OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent) and, subsequently co-founded ELBWO (the East London Black Women’s Organisation) in 1979 which still operates to this day. It was then a natural progression to be a Spokesperson on behalf of Black (African Descent) Women and Children – reporting as part of a delegation to various Government Committees and attending the United Nations World Conferences on Women. The founding of Operation Sankofa: ‘I want one just like me!’ during this retirement phase, allows time for Ama to ‘put her money where her mouth is’ in her passion for promoting and celebrating Black Dolls as a continuation of the true commitment to uplifting African and Caribbean People’s heritage.
To learn more about Ama and Operation Sankofa: https://operationsankofa.com/
Debbie Behan Garrett (PODCAST: To hear the interview, visit our podcasts page. )
Debbie Behan Garrett's interest in collecting black dolls commenced after the 1991 catalog purchase of a 'collectible' porcelain doll intended as a gift for her daughter. After the doll's arrival, the decision to keep the doll and to begin a collection ensued. Her avid interest in black-doll history prompted research on dolls made during and before her childhood. She began freelance writing in 1998 for Black Doll-E-Gram. Prior to writing her first black-doll reference book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls, Hobby House Press, Inc., 2003, Garrett's efforts to connect with other like-minded collectors culminated in founding the WeLoveBlackDolls Yahoo! Group, in January 2001, which is now a private Facebook group. In February 2002, as co-founder and editor of The Black Doll-E-Zine, 'the first and only e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls,' her doll research, writing, and networking with doll collectors and artists continued.
In 2008, Garrett self-published Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion, a full color book which references and values over 1000 black dolls. Her most recent work, The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak I Listen, first introduced as an eBook and sold through Google Play, became available as an ultra-limited edition paperback in April 2011. The Doll Blogs is the first book featuring dolls that blog their experiences with their human. Hard copies are now out of print. The electronic versions of Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide and The Doll Blogs remain available through Google Play.
Through an associate membership of Motor City Doll Club, Garrett is also a member of United Federation of Doll Clubs. She has contributed to their Doll News quarterly publication and their 2017 convention souvenir Journal. Garrett's articles have also been published in Doll Castle News, Contemporary Doll Collector, British Doll Showcase, DOLLS magazine, DollReader, and Fashion Doll Quarterly. Garrett maintains her personal Black Doll Collecting blog and the Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black blog where she periodically profiles past and present doll companies, doll artists, and doll collectors.
Garrett, a native Texan, is the married mother of two adult children and doting granny of two boys. In addition to doll collecting, research, and writing, she enjoys living each day as if it were Saturday.
You may follow Debbie's doll journey at via her blog: https://blackdollcollecting.blogspot.com/
Debbie Behan Garrett's interest in collecting black dolls commenced after the 1991 catalog purchase of a 'collectible' porcelain doll intended as a gift for her daughter. After the doll's arrival, the decision to keep the doll and to begin a collection ensued. Her avid interest in black-doll history prompted research on dolls made during and before her childhood. She began freelance writing in 1998 for Black Doll-E-Gram. Prior to writing her first black-doll reference book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls, Hobby House Press, Inc., 2003, Garrett's efforts to connect with other like-minded collectors culminated in founding the WeLoveBlackDolls Yahoo! Group, in January 2001, which is now a private Facebook group. In February 2002, as co-founder and editor of The Black Doll-E-Zine, 'the first and only e-zine devoted to collecting black dolls,' her doll research, writing, and networking with doll collectors and artists continued.
In 2008, Garrett self-published Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion, a full color book which references and values over 1000 black dolls. Her most recent work, The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak I Listen, first introduced as an eBook and sold through Google Play, became available as an ultra-limited edition paperback in April 2011. The Doll Blogs is the first book featuring dolls that blog their experiences with their human. Hard copies are now out of print. The electronic versions of Black Dolls: A Comprehensive Guide and The Doll Blogs remain available through Google Play.
Through an associate membership of Motor City Doll Club, Garrett is also a member of United Federation of Doll Clubs. She has contributed to their Doll News quarterly publication and their 2017 convention souvenir Journal. Garrett's articles have also been published in Doll Castle News, Contemporary Doll Collector, British Doll Showcase, DOLLS magazine, DollReader, and Fashion Doll Quarterly. Garrett maintains her personal Black Doll Collecting blog and the Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black blog where she periodically profiles past and present doll companies, doll artists, and doll collectors.
Garrett, a native Texan, is the married mother of two adult children and doting granny of two boys. In addition to doll collecting, research, and writing, she enjoys living each day as if it were Saturday.
You may follow Debbie's doll journey at via her blog: https://blackdollcollecting.blogspot.com/