Queen's gift shop sells racist rag dolls

[dancingme]

LONDON — Managers of one of Queen Elizabeth II's country estates have apologized for selling a soft toy with racist connotations in their gift shop.

Sandringham Estate's management said Thursday it did not intend to cause any offense by selling the rag dolls, which resemble black-faced minstrels and are popularly known as "golliwogs."

They were popular toys in Britain during the early part of the 20th century, but the doll and its name are now considered racist.

The toys have been withdrawn from sale at the estate inn Norfolk, 110 miles northeast of London.

Earlier this week, the BBC dropped Carol Thatcher, daughter of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, from a TV show after she reportedly referred to an unidentified tennis player as a golliwog backstage.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,488605,00.html

[KittyWampus]

1. reading the thread title... I thought you meant Queens NEW YORK

and was thinking, "now there's a storefront that'll be hurting real soon".

[dancingme]

2. sorry for the confusion

I see your point.

[KittyWampus]

3. I'm actually a cloth doll artist. Golliwogs are an actual art form in dollmaking

in and of themselves.

They are no longer seen as referring to human beings and are considered more like the Elves and such.

And some doll collectors would definately want one in their collection.

Here's a pix of an antique Golliwog-



Sadly, you can see the racist past of the Golliwog. But is it necessary to jettison art forms like this?

[rollingrock]

5. You call that art?

Racist or not, it looks hideous.

[KittyWampus]

9. LOL! That's a really old one. Patterns would show up in like Ladies Housekeeping magazine or whateve

I didn't check to see if the pix was of a manufactured or homemade.

Think of sewing up a basic pancake doll. Two flat pieces of cloth. Having a black base fabric when you do that yields a "Golliwog".

Not so different in form/shape than a Raggedy Ann or Andy doll.

[Glorfindel]

6. "Golliwog's Cakewalk" by Claude Debussy, a lovely musical piece

Surely this wasn't meant to be offensive or racist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcnWx5NNjoE

[aikoaiko]

10. Even the piano is offensively pitch black.

:sarcasm:

[NOLALady]

11. Is there a white Golliwog doll?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. ...

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/golliwog/

[KittyWampus]

15. Yes, Raggedy Ann and Andy are essentially same pancake type doll (2 pieces cloth sewn flat) s

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Well, sure.

In the sense that burning crosses are an actual art form in pyrotechnics and carpentry.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

14. Is this the $4M family business on Long Island? (n/t)

[KittyWampus]

16. I wish my work was worth that much. (n/t)

[Bluenorthwest]

19. This is..

racist crap.

[RB TexLa]

4. No surprise from those people.

[spoony]

7. You know an American invented them right?

No surprise from those people...right?

[KittyWampus]

17. I thought Golliwogs were Dutch?

[spoony]

20. She wrote about the golliwog palling about with Dutch dolls

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwogg

"In order to afford tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg. The 1895 book included a character named the "Golliwogg", who was first described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome..."

[meegbear]

8. Holy XTC Batman!

There's a song called 'Toys' they did in the 80's and the first verse is ...

Sindy's spending too much money on clothes
Ken is going back to Gay Bob
The Teddy bears swear the neighbourhood's gone
Since the moving in of Golliwog

Now I know! And knowing is half the fun!

[Jamastiene]

18. Hell, even I know that's offensive as hell and I'm from a little

hick town in the middle of nowhere. :wtf: is wrong with people?