ATLANTA — An Atlanta recreation center has transformed into a dollhouse.
To celebrate the history and innovation behind action figures, dolls and other beloved toys, a collector is showcasing her finds at the Old Adamsville Recreation Center. Curator Jamila Jones recently opened the African American Doll Exhibit - which runs through the holiday season.
It features a worldwide collection of more than 1,000 dolls dating back to the 1800s, including the first Black convent doll.
People can find miniature and life-size dolls, generations of action figures, and the first Black Barbie doll. A portion of the exhibit also honors 50 years of hip-hop.
Jones, who has been collecting since 1971, said it took about a month and a half to set up her collection at the Atlanta rec center. The retired Atlanta parks and recreation director is from Alabama and was part of the Montgomery boycotts. Her dolls are part of her activism, showing that little girls can become whatever they want to be and there's a rich history that can be told through dolls.
"We don't really have a sense of who we are sometimes," Jones said. "And through these dolls, we can tell the different things we have created and given to the world. It is just important to have something in your image that you can be proud of."
Atlanta City Council members recently visited the expansive exhibit. Councilmember Michael Julian Bond is an avid action-figure collector himself and actually lent a portion of his collection.
"These are icons in our culture," he explained after showing off his President Barack Obama action figure. "There was a time you couldn't have an African American doll or if you did it was a divisive device - something that was a cruel caricature in our history."
That's why Bond thinks it's important to share these finds with others, including Atlanta's leadership.
"This is just something out of this world," Atlanta City Councilmember Andrea Boone said. "When I was growing up, there were no dolls that looked like me. There were either white dolls or very, very dark dolls. So now we have dolls that look like me and other little girls in the Adamsville community."
People can visit that exhibit at the Old Adamsville Recreation Center at 3404 Delmar Lane NW in Atlanta.
