A Black Doll in 19th-Century Toronto

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Bridging Connections and Communities: 19th-Century Black Settlement in North America" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2015 TMHC excavated a block in The Ward, an area of downtown Toronto, Ontario, once home to immigrants seeking a better life. Hundreds of thousands of artifacts were recovered. Among the many unique finds was the porcelain bust of a Black doll. Dolls depicting persons of colour are rare. Furthermore, such dolls were either depicted as exaggerated stereotypes of Africans or made from molds for White dolls. The Ward doll is particularly special because she is neither of these; she is African, and she is beautiful. The doll is now a symbol of the Black presence in 19th-century Toronto. She is a tangible link to the Black families who built a community while forging a path to the future. This exceptional artifact raises a multitude of questions about her manufacture, sale, and her place in history. This paper seeks to explore some of these questions and contextualise her story.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Bridging Connections and Communities: 19th-Century Black Settlement in North America

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 357