Toys Make a Nation: A History of Ethnic Toys in America.

Abstract

This research examined representations of ethnic and racial difference in toys from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. The purpose was to identify the kinds of messages about race that have been communicated to children through their toys, as well as to document the variety of such ethnic toys in the history of American childhood, in order to understand how playthings can function as important, socializing objects that teach children about popular representations of race. Close readings of toys and their advertisements, following methods from material and visual culture studies, were used to identify and explain the social purpose of such toys at their time of creation and the meanings of the racial imagery they contained. The analysis of the toys suggested that no simple or consistent message about race has been communicated to children through toys. Instead, multiple, often contradictory views of difference have been conveyed to children. In some cases, distinctions between foreign, alien, and naturalized have been used to indicate adult society’s acceptance of various immigrant or ethnic groups. At other times, toy makers have attempted to instill a message of racial harmony or racial pride in their toys. However, most often ambivalence about difference is displayed in ethnic toys, negating the idea that racial equality has truly arrived in the toy box.