Golliwogs/Gollies

The books! Over seven hundred of them and still counting...
User avatar
pete9012S
Posts: 17573
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 15:32
Favourite book/series: Five On A Treasure Island
Favourite character: Frederick Algernon Trotteville
Location: UK

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by pete9012S »

What book does that story come from? Familiar,but memory failing me.
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

Society Member
User avatar
Deej92
Posts: 212
Joined: 03 Aug 2016, 00:08
Favourite book/series: Five Get into Trouble (Famous Five)
Favourite character: Dick

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Deej92 »

The passage in the book Sixret posted sits very uncomfortably with me. It's certainly not acceptable by modern standards in my mind.

As for the keyrings, you can see why people think they're gollies as they do look like them and I can understand why customers were offended. I've always viewed a golly as a crude caricature of a black person.
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26772
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Rob Houghton wrote:I'm not familiar with this story - though I might have read it before. Does it have any redeeming features at the end? Usually in stories where people or toys think a black doll is ugly, they are taught to like the doll for who they are, regardless of skin colour.
True. If 'Character A' considers 'Character B' worthless for any physical reason at all (e.g. colour, lack of a tail, shabby paint or ragged fur/clothes), 'Character A' is generally shown to be wrong and the story demonstrates the value of 'Character B' and shows him/her being accepted and welcomed either by 'Character A' or by others.
sixret wrote:The fact that Enid refers to Mopsy as a black doll not golliwog in this particular book has made me thinking that golliwog is only for a male black doll?
Some of Enid Blyton's stories contain both a golliwog and a black doll and they're not viewed as the same thing.

Enid Blyton wrote two stories called 'The Little Black Doll'. In one of them, a black doll named Sambo isn't liked by the other toys in the nursery simply because of the way he looks. He is differentiated from the golliwog - the little girl who owns him says, "I think you are ugly, Sambo. I don't like your black face. I don't mind Golly's face being black, because gollies always are - but I don't like your face."

In the other story, the toys in the nursery also shun a black doll who is called Sambo. He asks why he is left out of everything and the teddy bear answers, "Well, you see, you're black." Sambo is astonished, saying, "The golliwog's black too, but you like him." The baby doll says, "Golliwogs always are black. We wouldn't like them if they weren't. But dolls aren't supposed to be black. You look queer to us." So it seems that a black doll and a golliwog are two different things to the nursery toys - and it's the black doll that they object to!

We discussed these tales earlier in the thread. They're rather problematic in some respects, but the overall message in both is of inclusion.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
KEVP
Posts: 550
Joined: 15 Oct 2015, 02:18

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by KEVP »

The word "Golliwogg" was invented by Florence Kate Upton as the name of a character in her books for children. She didn't copyright the word properly, so many toy companies started making "Golliwog" dolls. So in my mind, a Golliwog needs to resemble the Upton character, thus male, wearing similar clothes, and so on.
User avatar
sixret
Posts: 4130
Joined: 16 Aug 2006, 14:25
Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers,Mr.Twiddle,Barney R
Favourite character: Mr.Twiddle,Fatty,Saucepan,Snubby

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by sixret »

It's the adventure story featuring 4 toys with happy ending, Rob. Mopsy is one of the toy.

They Ran Away Together, Pete.

Thank you, Anita.
I stand with justice and the truth. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.

Learn the history. Do research.

The hypocrisy, double standard, prejudice and bigotry own by some people is so obvious.Shame on them!
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Moonraker »

pete9012S wrote:What book does that story come from? Familiar,but memory failing me.
I am wondering if it is The Little Black Doll, from The Jolly Story Book. I have searched through all my short-story volumes, but haven't got the story.
Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26772
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Sixret has now given the title. It's They Ran Away Together:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... y+Together" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit: Heh - the number plate of the toy car on the cover is "EB"!

The illustrator is Jeanne Farrar. My avatar is by the same artist.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
sixret
Posts: 4130
Joined: 16 Aug 2006, 14:25
Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers,Mr.Twiddle,Barney R
Favourite character: Mr.Twiddle,Fatty,Saucepan,Snubby

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by sixret »

The other two in the series are almost impossible to find. :cry:
I stand with justice and the truth. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.

Learn the history. Do research.

The hypocrisy, double standard, prejudice and bigotry own by some people is so obvious.Shame on them!
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26772
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

The Cave lists four titles in the series:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... seryseries" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
sixret
Posts: 4130
Joined: 16 Aug 2006, 14:25
Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers,Mr.Twiddle,Barney R
Favourite character: Mr.Twiddle,Fatty,Saucepan,Snubby

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by sixret »

Yes, I have They Ran Away Together and Dear Old Snowman.
I stand with justice and the truth. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.

Learn the history. Do research.

The hypocrisy, double standard, prejudice and bigotry own by some people is so obvious.Shame on them!
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Moonraker »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Sixret has now given the title. It's They Ran Away Together:
Sorry. I couldn't have read sixret's post. :oops:
Society Member
User avatar
Ming
Posts: 6057
Joined: 14 Nov 2006, 16:58
Favourite book/series: Adventure/Mystery
Favourite character: Fatty, Bill Smugs, Kiki
Location: Ithaca, NY
Contact:

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Ming »

Liam wrote:African-American black people claim all blackness as their own. They figure they have a right to blackness in all its forms, and so reserve the right to define it in all its aspects (They are Americans after all, and join with their white counterparts in dividing up the world among themselves - a bit like the Pope dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal! And also a bit like whites deciding the fair color of the Chinese should fall under whiteness).

The golliwog is a form of blackness that was created by whites for whites. That scares African Americans because of the past where blackness was defined by whites to the disadvantage of blacks - I mean stereotyping it. It’s like the word and identity “Negro”. That is a “foreign” word to African Americans (who are English-speaking), a word given by whites, so they rejected it for ones of their own choosing, and which are comprehensible to them - “black” and “African American”.

People are right when they say the golliwog does not represent black people. Precisely. African Americans want that blackness to represent them in a more “accurate” way, that is, in a way that they define. The golliwog’s blackness is unnatural in that it is a combination of features associated with a variety of populations. Its facial features look Caucasian, so more like blacks in East Africa or South India, its hair is more characteristic of mulattos, whose hair - midway between tightly curled and straight - is more likely to stand straight up.

This mismatch of features is seen as a caricature of the West African Bantu type, which African Americans identify more with. And seeing themselves as owners of blackness - more so than any other black population - they demand exclusive control of it.

Interestingly too, the golliwog is a kind of mixed type, but African Americans have been rejecting the idea of mixedness, even as they become more and more mixed themselves. So they also rejected the name “coloured”, which included mulattos, for identities of pure blackness.
Liam, thanks for such an informative post. I quoted almost all of it since you posted it some months ago and I'm only reading it now. I agree with a lot of what you said.

Race relations in America have always been more problematic than in other places, but how that compares to Britain now, I can't say for sure. Within my little bubble in upstate NY, which is a melting pot of several races, ethnicities and nationalities, the conclusions you have drawn are what I have also felt.

"Blackness" is a concept that African Americans wish to have ownership of because historically they have been portrayed by white people for white people to the disadvantage of the African Americans, and I think that is why words such as "nigger" are an absolute no no when uttered by someone who is not black, while the black community freely makes use of the word - it's a way reclaim a word that has often been used to stereotype and put down an entire race. Interestingly, in my experience only African Americans identify freely as "black", while fresh off the boat folks (like) from say, Kenya, or Ghana, identify as "African" - I have never heard them call themselves black, while I can identify as Bangladeshi, South Asian, and brown.

In a strange way, the Golly debate ties to cultural appropriation, which often portrays people of different cultures as caricatures, or picks and chooses parts of a culture without regard to its significance to its greater community. I have never seen or owned a gollywog so I am fairly "I don't really care about it" about it, but I always feel rather uncomfortable when hippy stores smelling of marijuana sell Indian/South Asian clothing and brand them as ethnic, while I am extremely excited when Fair Trade or Trade Aid stores sell handmade earrings or baskets or even clothes while documenting their origins. The difference lies in how the seller treated my heritage - the latter respected its origins and creators while the former brushed it all as ethnic and exotic, and in both instances the sellers were primarily white. I suppose if gollywogs were made by black people rather than white, it might have been a less contested issue. Not saying that golly makers/owners/buyers are disrespectful, though! Just that in one instant it was MY people who for sure made the cultural items and chose to share it with others, while in the other, OTHERS made items that mimicked my culture without necessarily asking for my permission. That doesn't mean, however, that I can demand all such stores shut down or not sell them, just that, I am allowed to not be completely comfortable with it.

Liam, I see that you're from New York. Most of the year I'm in Ithaca. We should meet sometime! :)
Image

Society Member
User avatar
Moonraker
Posts: 22387
Joined: 31 Jan 2005, 19:15
Location: Wiltshire, England
Contact:

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Moonraker »

An intelligent and well thought out post, Ming (of course, I would expect nothing less from you). I can't help feeling something similar would make an interesting Journal article.
Society Member
Liam
Posts: 295
Joined: 01 Jan 2013, 00:02
Favourite book/series: Famous Five
Favourite character: George
Location: New York

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Liam »

Ming, it looks like you’ve been bitten by America’s racial bug! I know the feeling. I remember America’s racial winds pushing my back up against a wall, when I first came here, and making me into something I was not. All the same it’s the most fascinating subject.
Ming wrote: Interestingly, in my experience only African Americans identify freely as "black", while fresh off the boat folks (like) from say, Kenya, or Ghana, identify as "African" - I have never heard them call themselves black, while I can identify as Bangladeshi, South Asian, and brown.
Black is the mirror image of white. If all you see around you is black - blacks from Africa - then you have not learned to see yourself in the mirror of whiteness. It takes some work to push that mirror away and not see yourself in other people’s eyes.
Ming wrote: Just that in one instant it was MY people who for sure made the cultural items and chose to share it with others, while in the other, OTHERS made items that mimicked my culture without necessarily asking for my permission.
I don’t have very strong feelings about cultural appropriations by whites. But that’s probably ‘biased’, since I am a mixed-race person who never subscribed to a black identity, and so I don’t feel black culture is mine. But then I am West Indian (heritage) and don’t feel that way about West Indian culture; though some people might say I’m not that either! I generally think whites’ dabbling in exotic culture is well-meaning. After all, all exotics have free access to white culture. :wink:

I’m in New York city. If you ever get down here, it would be great to see you.
Viv of Ginger Pop
Posts: 2902
Joined: 11 Jul 2005, 04:56
Favourite character: LEAST liked - Wilfred (FF 20)
Location: Dorset
Contact:

Re: Golliwogs/Gollies

Post by Viv of Ginger Pop »

There is a programme on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm (and then on 4+1) about Political Correctness Gone Mad. It is presented by Trevor Phillips, who used to head up the commission for racial equality.

Further to my post at the bottom of page 37, I think this could be a very interesting watch!

Viv
The Ginger Pop Shop closed in Feb 2017
Post Reply