Melanated Joy Lives Here

blackdollsmatter.com

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Success once meant recognition and achievement. What happens when the dream becomes legacy and community? My latest article reflects on building something meaningful that can outlast our names. What does success look like now? #BuildingBeyondYourName #Legacy #CommunityBuilding #BlackDollsMatter

Building Beyond Your Name | Black Dolls Matter®

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Cultural art preserves identity, storytelling, healing, and community through creative expression. At Black Dolls Matter®, handmade Black dolls are more than toys — they are reflections of heritage, representation, and belonging passed from one generation to the next. 🤎

What Is Cultural Art? Why It Matters More Than Ever

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“We are all Greenwood.” Building for the next seven generations means passing down wisdom, protection, and community care. The next seven generations are already listening. 🤎 #BlackDollsMatter #Greenwood #GenerationalWisdom

We Are All Greenwood: Protecting the Next Seven Generations

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What if we had sustained Shindana Toys? Founded after the Watts uprising, Shindana created Black dolls with dignity when representation was rare. But representation without ownership is fragile. What could happen if we intentionally sustained what we build now? #ShindanaToys #BlackDolls #BlackBus

What If We Had Continued to Support Shindana Toys?

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Mutual aid has always helped our communities survive. But care should circulate — not rest on the same exhausted shoulders. A reflection on community support, burnout, boundaries, and collective survival. 🤎 #MutualAid #BlackDollsMatter #CommunityCare

When Care Becomes Heavy: Mutual Aid, Community Survival, and the Weight We Carry

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Children notice who gets invested in. As Philadelphia faces the closing of 17 schools, this reflection explores representation, emotional safety, and what children learn from the communities around them. Read more at BlackDollsMatter.com #BlackDollsMatter #RepresentationMatters

Children Notice Who Gets Invested In

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To every mother, grandmother, auntie, and caregiver who helped shape our joy—thank you. 🤎 Today we celebrate Black motherhood, representation, and the power of children feeling seen, loved, and reflected. Happy Mother’s Day from Black Dolls Matter®. 🌸 #BlackDollsMatter #MothersDay #MelanatedJoy

Mother’s Day at Black Dolls Matter®

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Richard Henry Boyd built more than dolls. He helped build infrastructure for dignity, representation, and community long before those conversations became mainstream. The work continues. Read more at Black Dolls Matter®. #BlackDollsMatter #RichardHenryBoyd #RepresentationMatters

Richard Henry Boyd Built More Than Dolls

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When the world misreads us, representation becomes essential. This is about illness, perception, and the power of dolls to tell the truth. #BlackDollsMatter #RepresentationMatters #MelanatedJoy

When the World Misreads Us: Illness, Image, and the Power of Dolls

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Dolls that look like you matter. When a child holds a doll that looks like them, they are not imagining themselves into someone else’s story — they are already in the story. Representation in toys is not just about play. It is about identity, belonging, and being seen.

Dolls That Look Like You Matter

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The Black Doll Symposium felt like a hush harbor — a space where makers, scholars, and collectors gathered to honor the cultural power of Black dolls and the stories they carry. #BlackDollsMatter #DollMakers #RepresentationInToys

The Hush Harbor of Black Dolls

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Before I understood legacy, I understood her hands. “The Riveter and the Needle” reflects on labor, craft, and the people whose hands shaped the maker behind Black Dolls Matter®. Read the newest Founder’s Voice essay: https://blackdollsmatter.com/the-riveter-and-the-needle/

The Riveter and the Needle

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The Black Dolls Matter® origin story reaches a turning point with the first doll — when making shifted from imitation to intention. A reflection on craft, care, and the moment a handmade doll became an offering. Read the story: https://blackdollsmatter.com/the-first-doll/

The First Doll

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The Black Dolls Matter® origin story lives not only in a machine, but in the hands that guided mine. In needle and thread, care becomes memory. Founder’s Voice — Part III: The Hands explores how generational craft shaped resilience, love, and making.

The Hands: Black Dolls Matter® Origin Story

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The Black Dolls Matter® origin story begins with a sewing machine in my childhood home — a quiet lesson in care, resilience, and possibility. Founder’s Voice — Part II: The Machine is now live. https://blackdollsmatter.com/the-machine-black-dolls-matter-origin-story/

The Machine

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A 1961 letter written during the Berlin Crisis planted the first stitch of what would become Black Dolls Matter®. A modest request for a sewing machine became a generational thread. The Letter — Part I of Founders Reflections — is now live.

The Black Dolls Matter® Origin: Where the Thread Begins

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Black Dolls Matter® Asé — Founding Circle Membership

Black Dolls Matter Ase Membership is our founding circle rooted in representation, healing, and intentional economic empowerment through dolls and cultural storytelling. The Black Dolls Matter® Asé Membership marks a shift from platform dependency to ownership, from algorithms to alignment, from audience to intentional community. This is not simply access. It is covenant. It is commitment. It is…

Black Dolls Matter® Asé — Founding Circle Membership