The joys of black toys

Ebony, Nov, 1994

THE holidays are back--and Black. Responding to the mounting presures of African-American parents, Black toymakers and engineers, mass toy manufacturers and major toy retailers, such as Toys 'R' Us, have developed an increasing number of creative and entertaining toys, computer software programs and gift items that celebrate the heritage, history and beauty of African-Americans.

Black toymakers, especially, have opened the doors for ethnically rich playthings to share the shelves with other items that make the retail toy industry $17.5 billion strong. One of the trailblazers is a determined Black woman, Yla Eason, president of Olmec Toys Inc., the country's oldest continuously operating Black-owned toy firm.

"Black kids are hit with so many negative images. We need to give kids even more fantasy, more imagination because it allows them to live in places they may not live in today," says Eason, who began the New York-based, multiethnic toy company in 1985 after her then-3-year-old son, Menelik, complained that only Whites could be superheroes.

Moved by the same concerns, 25-year toy business veteran Jacob Miles III in 1992 launched Minneapolis-based Cultural Toys, a full-line multicultural toy company that includes preschool learning toys, rag dolls and "streetwise" stuffed animals. "We hope that our learning toys have a positive impact so that children can see themselves as pilots, doctors and graduates at an extremely early age," says Miles, a former gang member who was reared in a Cincinnati housing project. When toys positively reflect a child's experience, Miles says, "Kids will see themselves and say, 'Look, it's me. I'm smart.'"

A dazzling array of cinnamon brown fashion dolls, powerful Black action figures and a host of historical books, educational games, software and puzzles await the Black child this year. No longer do young ladies have to settle for White dolls dipped in chocolate hues. Today's Black youngsters have their pick of pretty, ethnically correct playmates. There's Olmec's Imani Music Video, the newest addition to the company's fashion doll line. The poised, musically talented figurine, equipped with a camcorder, sports an Afro and comes with three wigs in crinkled, bobbed and cornrowed styles.

This holiday season, Mattel Toys introduces Kenyan Barbie. The African beauty wears a checkered dress with cape, a coiled bracelet and an anklet. Her naturally short hair is simply adorned with a headband. Tyco's hairstyling Kenya doll, which comes with gold accessories and African-inspired prints, returns this year with her little sister Baby Kiana. Both cuddly dolls come in three complexions and with crowns full of hair that can be braided, twisted or styled with jewelry, ribbons and magic lotion.

Rag dolls with ethnic flair are also sure to please. Cultural Toys' Dinkytown Daycare Kids are adorable, and Playskool's colorful Kids of Color Rag Dolls, with their soft bodies, kente cloth wear and pretty brown faces, continue to inspire. This year, Playskool's dolls are accompanied by kente cloth-covered blocks with mirror images of beautiful, brown-skinned children on them. Like the rag dolls, the cloth shapes are just big enough for little hands to squeeze.

Wishes come true this holiday season for the little men on your holiday list. Black boys longing for superheroes that positively reflect the strengths of their heritage have a number of brawny buddies to choose from. Topping the list is Olmec's Sun-Man, the master warrior who uses his magical melanin skin to combat evil. Youngsters learn about respect and racial pride from a distinctive Malcolm X figurine in Olmec's "Our Powerful Past" series. In addition, celebrity sports figures and comic strip characters continue to captivate young dreamers. For little tykes ready to take a spin, there's Tyco's Python Radio Control, which is part truck, part water gun and Tonka's Electronic Smokin' Semi, a powerful rig with electronic sounds and a realistic, smoke-emitting exhaust stack.

The electronic industry has added a number of Black images to the information highway. Video games and advanced computer systems are beginning to reflect a diverse world. Bingwa Multicultural Software Co., in particular, has catapulted electronic learning to a new level. Bingwa's Mathematical Heritage Series mixes interactive math lessons, sophisticated sounds and graphics with animated images of real, minority and women inventors, scientists, explorers and entrepreneurs.

Company founders Bill and Karen Shelton, petroleum and aerospace engineers, respectively, and financier James Curry say they launched the pioneering math series last fall to fill a void in the software industry. "There wasn't any other product that combined positive ethnic role models with serious math and science lessons," says Bill Shelton. Although he hopes the graphics are entertaining, the main purpose, he says, is to prepare children for future careers. "Most of the fastgrowing industries rely heavily on computer technology. If our kids aren't familiar with this technology at an early age, they'll be at a tremendous disadvantage when they try to apply for those jobs in the future."