While most of us know Marcus Garvey for his “Back to Africa" movement, his hand was in many pots, and he built a little-known but essential business for Black children at home.
Garvey wanted Black children to have a strong and positive self-image. So, he purchased a Black doll factory, believing that our children needed to play with dolls that looked like them. Yes, we know that dolls are toys, but we also know that anti-Blackness is fed to Black children through the toys and media of a majority white culture from the jump. This heartbreaking study proved it.
In the 1940s, Black psychologists conducted “The Doll Test,” an experiment in which Black children between the ages of 3 and 7 were given two dolls, one white and one Black, and asked to choose their favorite. Most children chose the white dolls and assigned positive characteristics to them while rejecting the Black dolls.
We need our children to know and value their Blackness. But we also need them to be able to spot anti-Black rhetoric from a mile away so that they aren't tricked into believing they're inferior to anyone.
Liberation isn't just about boycotting and protesting. It requires dismantling the colonial teachings we inherited and believe about ourselves. Black children have always been a part of the liberation movement. Our future world depends on them knowing and loving who they are from day one.