Golly Dolls from Harrods. Racist?

Recently, my mother brought me back Golly dolls from Harrod's London as gifts. My gut feeling told me, there's something WRONG about these dolls. I'm just not feeling them. So I did research on them and found out they were created from a children's book by a girl named Florence Kate Upton. She was from the U.S. but moved back to England after her father died.

"The Golliwogg was based on a Black minstrel doll that Upton had played with as a small child in New York. The then-nameless "Negro minstrel doll" was treated roughly by the Upton children. Upton reminiscenced: "Seated upon a flowerpot in the garden, his kindly face was a target for rubber balls..., the game being to knock him over backwards. It pains me now to think of those little rag legs flying ignominiously over his head, yet that was a long time ago, and before he had become a personality.... We knew he was ugly!"From the Museum of Racist Memorabilia.


I'm a little fascinated as to why these dolls are still being produced. Maybe it's time to put "unintentional racism" on check. I can see collecting them as antiques, museum or historical pieces with full understanding of their history but to produce them in 2005! They are made by Merrythought in England and I love their "Cheeky" bears. I think I'm going to email Harrod's and Merrythought about their "Golly situation." I'm not going to tell them, "Oh, you racist bastards! Shame on youuuu!" I'll just inform them that "they are products of racism" unintentional or not, and I find them offensive. It's your choice, you're reputation, or something like that. Harrod's usually has excellent customer service. They always send out handwritten thankyou notes to all their customers. Stay tuned.