Doll Study on Children

By: Allison Perz

 I found this image very interesting because it had to do with the doll study that was done on how black children preferred white dolls over black ones because they thought they were prettier.

By: Nicolette D'Antuono

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyI77Yh1Gg

This video “A Girl Like Me” is about how young black females view their-selves. Young females struggle with finding their inner-beauty. This document examines women's standards and at such a young age. It studies color, hair, and facial features for young black women. Black women were seen as ugly because of their dark skin, their kinky hair, and that they were not smart. “You were only pretty if you were light skin.” Black parents wanted their children to have light skin because that was what was more attractive. Some used bleach in the bath tub or a bleach cream on their children at a very young age.  These are problems that young females faced as children. These young black females stated that they felt “lost” because they did not know their culture or their values in life.  All they knew was how society labeled them, they didn’t no any better so they struggled to find their identity.  

The Clark Doll Experiment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7U1QsUd1g

This was a video of the doll test with young black children that were questioned which doll they preferred to play with or which doll is the nice doll and which one is bad.  The study resulted that the majority of the black children liked the white doll best and would rather play with them. In the video, one child said he preferred the black doll not the white one but when asked which doll was the bad doll, he chose the black doll and said because the doll is black. This experiment was done by Dr. Clark in 1939 and in 1954 in Brown v Board of Education, this experiment helped to persuade the American Supreme Court that “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites were anything but equal and against the law. This study really shows how young black children viewed themselves in society. The doll experiment was done to study children’s attitudes about race. Racism really affected and affects children from such a young age and this is a reason why they pushed for equality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSdKy2q6pEY

This video is the version that Anderson Cooper did years later of the doll test that was made by Clark. This study also asked the children which image is the ugly one, which image is the nice one. The study also asked the black children which skin color they would want. One young girl said that she would prefer white skin because hers looked dirty. This study used five images of dolls/children that had different skin color, from light to dark skin. 

By: Ashley Mavaro

 

                                  

Dr. Kenneth B. Clark and his wife conducted this experiment, which is most commonly referred to as the doll test. This study took a closer look at the psychological effects of race and segregation on African American children. Clark published his findings in his papers, which were cited by the Supreme Court in the landmark, Brown v. Board of Education decision. The test used four dolls, which were each identical, apart from the dolls skin color. These dolls were shown to young African American children, between the ages of three to seven years old. These children were asked questions, such as "Which doll looks bad?" as shown in the bar graph above. These questions were used to form research on the black children perceptions and preferences based on color and race. Without being confident as to why, most children preferred the lighter dolls, attaching more positive characteristics the white dolls. Ultimately, this study shed light on segregation in a different way: as a social system. Black women and children were questioning their own black identity, which was a whole new level of oppression, which went, for the most part, unseen. This went further than the violence and lack of civil rights the blacks received, rather it showed the sociological and psychological effects of segregation and discrimination, leading young children who did not know any better to hate themselves in their own skin.