Black Power in Toyland

Abstract

No company was more racially conscious during this era than Shindana Toys. Founded in 1968 with the financial support of Mattel Toys, and led by two veteran Black civil rights activists from South Los Angeles, Shindana brought the radical aesthetics of the Black Arts movement and the economic strategies of Black Power to the making of Black dolls. This chapter traces Shindana’s history, from its roots in the local activism that grew out of the 1965 Watts Rebellion—which included the formation of its parent organization, Operation Bootstrap—to its leasing of a showroom in New York’s Toy Center in 1974, the first Black-owned company to do so. Like no other toy company, Shindana made its dolls into vehicles for celebrating Black culture, identity, and history. While Shindana could not fully resolve the contradictions of racial representation, its politically charged toys changed the industry rules of representation forever.