The golliwog, golliwogg or golly is a fictional character created by Florence Kate Upton that

appears in children's books in the late 19th century and usually depicted as a type of rag doll. It
was reproduced, both by commercial and hobby toy-makers, as a children's toy called the
"golliwog", a portmanteau of golly and polliwog,[1][2][3] and had great popularity in the UK and
Australia into the 1970s. The doll is characterised by black skin, eyes rimmed in white, red lips
and frizzy hair. Though home-made golliwogs were sometimes female, the golliwog was
generally male. For this reason, in the period following World War II, the golliwog was seen, along
with the teddy bear, as a suitable soft toy for a young boy.
In later years the image of the doll has become the subject of controversy. While some people
see the doll as a symbol of childhood and an innocuous toy,[4] it is considered as racist[4] by others
along with pickaninnies, minstrels, mammy figures, and other caricatures of black Africans. The
golliwog has been described by the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia as "the least known
of the major anti-Black caricatures in the United States".[5] In recent years, changing political
attitudes with regard to race have reduced the popularity and sales of golliwogs as toys.
Manufacturers who have used golliwogs as a motif (e.g. Robertson's marmalade in the UK) have
either withdrawn them as an icon or changed the name. In particular, the association of the
golliwog with the pejorative term "wog" has resulted in use of alternative names such as "golly"
and "golly doll".
Since 2015, alternative histories have emerged suggesting the dolls are based on Egyptian
workers forced to serve under British occupation during the Anglo-Egyptian war. However, the
claim appears to be pseudohistory; no internet or newspaper records of this story have been
located earlier than 2015.

Contents

 1In fiction

 2In culture

 3Association with racism in the 21st century

o 3.1United Kingdom

o 3.2Australia

 4See also

 5References

 6External links

In fiction[edit]
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The Golliwogg's Auto-Go-Cart, a 1901 book by Florence Kate Upton

Florence Kate Upton was born in 1873 in Flushing, New York, United States, the daughter of
English parents who had emigrated to the United States three years previously. Following the
death of her father, she moved back to England with her mother and sisters when she was
fourteen. There she spent several years drawing and developing her artistic skills. To afford
tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled The Adventures of Two Dutch
Dolls and a Golliwogg. The 1895 book included a character named the Golliwogg, who was first
described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome", but who quickly turned out to be a friendly
character, and is later attributed with a "kind face." A product of the blackface minstrel tradition,
the Golliwogg had jet black skin; bright red lips; and wild woolly hair. He wore red trousers, a shirt
with a stiff collar, red bow-tie, and a blue jacket with tails – all traditional minstrel attire.
Upton's book and its many sequels were extremely successful in England, largely because of the
popularity of the Golliwogg. Upton did not trademark her character, and its name, spelt "golliwog",
became the generic name for dolls and images of a similar type.[5] The golliwog doll became a
popular children's toy throughout most of the 20th century, and was incorporated into many
aspects of British commerce and culture;[6] for instance, some of Enid Blyton's books feature
them, often as a villain and sometimes as heroes. Upton's Golliwogg was jovial, friendly and
gallant,[5] but some later golliwogs were sinister or menacing characters.[citation needed]

In culture[edit]
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The golliwog contributed enormously to the spread of blackface iconography in Europe.[citation needed] It

Golliwogg's Cakewalk is the sixth and final piece in the Children's Corner, a suite for piano
published by Claude Debussy in 1908.
British jam manufacturer James Robertson & Sons used a golliwog called Golly as
its mascot from 1910, after John Robertson apparently saw children playing with golliwog dolls in
the United States. Robertson's started producing promotional Golly badges in the 1920s, which
could be obtained in exchange for tokens gained from their products. In 1983, the company's
products were boycotted by the Greater London Council as offensive,[7] and in 1988 the character
ceased to be used in television advertising. The company used to give away golliwog badges and
small plaster figures playing musical instruments (jazz musicians) or sports and other such
themes. The Gollywog badge collection scheme was withdrawn in 2001.
According to an editorial in The Times newspaper, golliwogs were banned by the Nazis in 1934
on the grounds they were inappropriate toys for young German children, "for of all non-Aryans
none is more completely non-Aryan than he [Golliwog]... Some say he is so attractive an
advertisement for a black face that his presence makes it harder to teach the young to wash."[8]
In a statement reported by the BBC, Virginia (Ginny) C. Knox, previously brand director for
Robertson's and later Chief Operating Officer of the Culinary Brands Division of RHM, told The
Herald newspaper in Scotland in 2001 that the decision to remove the Golly symbol from
Robertson's jam and marmalade jars was taken after research found that children were not
familiar with the character, although it still appealed to the older generations. "We sell 45 million
jars of jam and marmalade each year and they have pretty much all got Golly on them," said Ms
Knox. "We also sell 250,000 Golly badges to collectors and only get 10 letters a year from people
who don't like the Golliwog image."[9] Today, Robertson's Golly badges remain highly collectible,
with the very rarest sometimes selling for more than £1,000.
An aniseed-flavoured chewy confection called a Blackjack was marketed in the United Kingdom
from the 1920s with a golliwog's face on the wrapper. In the late 1980s, Trebor, the manufacturer,
replaced the image with the face of a black-bearded pirate.
Art historian Sir Kenneth Clark said that the golliwogs of his childhood were "examples of
chivalry, far more persuasive than the unconvincing Knights of the Arthurian legend."[citation needed]
A classic contortionist act is the rag doll act often performed in a golliwog costume, therefore also
called the golliwogg act.
In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier and Volume III: Century, Alan
Moore and Kevin O'Neill included Upton's original Golliwog with a slightly reimagined, alien past.
When this was attacked as a racist character, Moore responded that the Upton's original Golliwog
"was a dignified and respectable figure. His courage and strength of character were ably
demonstrated in his picaresque adventures, as was his intellectual acumen."[10]