#connie porter

[agmagazinescans]

Together We Sail, by Connie Porter

American Girl Magazine, March/April 1996

[Ko-Fi Donations]

[threaded-in-feelings]

An American Girl: Addy Walker

It will always be the OG illustrations for me 🤌🏽

CREDIT: Melodye Benson Rosales

[blackdollsmatter]

Addy Walker’s dress was more than fabric—it was a statement. From fiction to freedom, she taught us that dolls can carry stories of resilience, hope, and healing. At Black Dolls Matter®, we honor that legacy in every doll we make. #BlackDollsMatter #AddyWalker #RepresentationMatters #HealedWithDolls

Addy Walker’s Dress Was Never Just Fabric: How a Doll Helped Stitch Together History, Identity, and Dignity

[rosegardendeprofundis]

Addy’s Story Collection (Addy #1-6) by Connie Porter

Dates Read: April 26 — April 28, 2025

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

2025 Reading Goal: 37-42/100

I am apologize in advance for how long this is about to be, but let me start by saying that American Girl REALLY knew what they were doing with these books. This year year, I have read Kirsten’s and now Addy’s collections (I also read Samantha’s last year, but I had already read all her books when I was a kid) and with each collection, I have been tempted to go out and buy the titular doll at my ripe age of 25. Truly phenomenal marketing. 10/10.

Like all of the “original” AG historical characters, Addy’s initial collection consisted of six books: Meet Addy, Addy Learns a Lesson, Happy Birthday, Addy, Addy’s Surprise, and Changes for Addy. Similar to the other AG collections I’ve read, these six books vary in quality but come together to make a complete, heartwarming story. While I enjoyed books two through six a lot, I have mixed feelings about book one because it is (by far) the most uncomfortable AG book I have read.

Meet Addy is pretty graphic and disturbing as far as books for nine-year-olds go as it shows Addy’s life in slavery before escaping to Philadelphia with her mother. While I’m used to AG putting their characters through some pretty traumatic situations (albeit, usually these situations aren’t packed into book one), Addy’s situation is absolutely horrific as we see her face abuse, get treated like a dog, witness her family members get sold and whipped, and leave her baby sister behind to escape the plantation.

After Meet Addy, Addy (thankfully!) does not experience abuse that is nearly as graphic as the ones she experiences in book one. The rest of her books are the heartwarming stories full of life lessons that you would expect from the brand, and I absolutely loved reading them. However, I still find myself hung up on how I feel about Meet Addy.

I feel very torn because, on one hand, I think it’s very important to not water down the horrors of slavery, and I commend AG for not glamorizing this period of history. On the other hand, Addy was the first non-white American Girl doll (and the ONLY Black historical character for decades), and our introduction to her is watching her go through unimaginable trauma for 60 pages straight. Her story is very important, but I just don’t know if this was the right choice for the brand’s first ever book about a non-white historical character.

That being said, I absolutely love Addy Walker (my favorites in the series were Addy’s Surprise and Happy Birthday, Addy) and would love to hear other thoughts on how AG approached such heavy subject matter.

[in-pleasant-company]

On Addy Turning Thirty, Why Her Life Still Matters

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Addy series, and as life has a way of bringing us in circles, taking us around to

Connie Porter on Addy

[shakespearefreak]

Question specifically for Black American Girl fans

Now that I have my childhood Addy back, I want to start including her in my doll stories, but I’m concerned about writing dialogue for her, specifically her dialect. Ideally I’d like to write book-accurate dialogue, but I worry that as a White person, trying to mimic the style of speech in the books may end up sounding overdone and disrespectful. But I also know that the historical Black dialect was something that Connie Porter felt strongly about and argued for (“When you have a group that has been marginalized, you marginalize them even more by thinking they have to talk in a certain way”). I want to respectfully represent Porter’s work, the Black community in general, and the character of Addy herself. What would you recommend? Should I go for a book-accurate dialect (which I'd obviously try my best to be careful writing, and dial back if someone told me to), or have her talk closer to the way I myself talk?

Thank you in advance for your time and effort if you choose to answer this (and no pressure if you'd rather not)! 😊

How should I have Addy talk? (Only vote if you are Black!)

Use book-accurate dialect

Don't use book-accurate dialect

Other/nuanced (please elaborate!)

I'm not Black/show results

Voting ended onJul 25, 2024

[luciana-vega]

Illustrations like this remind me of something Addy author Connie Porter mentioned in the American Girl Fan Club podcast episode featuring her and Brit Bennett (which I HIGHLY recommend listening to): history generally tells us the stories of adults, and of men specifically. What makes American Girl special is that it gives us the perspective of a child, specifically a girl, while still educating the reader on the event in question.

In this illustration, Caroline’s grandmother, who lived through the Revolutionary War, is giving Caroline supplies to take back to her mother at the family’s shipyard. Caroline’s grandmother tells her that she is not afraid to stay alone in the cellar, and Caroline knows then that she must stay with her mother to defend the shipyard, and ultimately be prepared to burn it all down if the British gain too much ground.

3 generations of women and girls are represented in this scene, all of them doing their part. When it comes to a war or a revolution or a movement, women often don’t get more than a throwaway sentence to acknowledge their contributions, but they were always there. This is why American Girl will always be meaningful to me and so many others.

[the-final-sentence]

Like I have a faith that’s all mine.

Connie Porter, from Imani All Mine