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"Addy" redirects here. For the doll, see Addy Walker (doll).

Addy Walker is the fifth Historical Character, representing the Civil War Era. Addy was released in Fall 1993 and was part of the BeForever collection and the 35th Anniversary Special Edition Rerelease.

Personality and Facts[]

Addy Walker is an African-American girl who, at the start of her stories, is enslaved with her family on a North Carolina plantation during the last years of the American Civil War. In Fall 1864 she escapes with her mother Ruth to the free North; the two arrive and settle in Philadelphia. Addy spends much of her central series hoping to have her whole family reunited in freedom.

Addy's full first name is Aduke after her great-grandmother on her father's side, a name which means "much loved" in Yoruba (a Nigerian language); it is rarely used, and she is referred to as Addy by family and friends. She was born in the spring; she does not know the exact day of her birth as it was not recorded by her parents. She later picks April 9th, due to the celebrations of the end of the Civil War and the assurance she and her family, even not yet united, are all free now.

Like many enslaved children, Addy is forced to do hard labor in service to her enslavers; she works in the tobacco fields and serving in the big house as a house servant. Seeing how hard Addy is being made to work her breaks her father Ben's heart, seeing her stooping like an old woman and being beat down every day. Ben says that she's at the age where a child learns they are enslaved and the hope they had as a child is being broken by the daily burdens of being so. At least once while enslaved, Addy is so despondent that she vows she would do anything for God if He would let the family escape slavery; she is warned by her uncle Solomon not to bargain with Him. She (rightfully) despises that she was ever enslaved and hated being so and the hard work she endured as an enslaved child.

She is close to her family and despondent when they are separated: first when her enslaver sells her father and older brother Sam away and then--in escape--when she and her mother must leave her baby sister Esther behind with their fictive kin, Auntie Lula and Uncle Solomon, rather than risk being caught in the escape by taking a baby that could not be easily carried or quieted with them. Addy aches for the majority of her series to have her entire family reunited in freedom and often thinks about them and where they could be as motivation in her day to day life. She does everything she is capable of to help them be reunited, a goal that is not fully realized for over a year after her and Ruth's escape and not all at once or as fully as she had hoped, as Solomon dies before arriving to Philadelphia to reunite with the family and Lula dies very soon after their reunion. After the family is reunited, Addy remains tied closely to each member of her family (even when Esther sometimes bothers her or gets into her things). Her friends say she has strong family pride.

Addy is a brave, loving, thoughtful, and kind child, who often risks her safety for the safety of others. When Addy first arrives in Philadelphia, she is scared of being alone in the city due to being unused to the large city crowds and fear of getting lost (in part because she cannot read) but she slowly becomes braver and more confident in moving around, in part with Sarah Moore's guidance. She still remains shy at times, especially around people she has just met.

Addy is a very intelligent child, something her father sees even while they are enslaved, and does very well in school; she learns to read and write well within a few months of starting school, catches up to the skill of Harriet Davis quickly, does well enough to win a spelling bee in her class shortly after her arrival, and later is invited to take further education and enrolls at The Institute for Colored Youth to work towards her goal of being a teacher as she grows up. She is also willing and able to teach others; she starts by teaching Ruth, using cooking dough to shape out letters into the names of their family and beans to help Ruth learn to read, write, and count. She later helps her father Ben and brother Sam learn simple reading and writing, and after Sarah is forced to drop out of school to help her family make ends meet Addy offers to teach her so that she can keep learning outside of school. By the time of Shadows on Society Hill, Addy is formally enrolled in I.C.Y. and is studying Latin among other subjects as part of her curriculum. Addy is very resourceful and helpful; when Ruth is upset that she can't read to deliver the packages that Mrs. Ford has asked her to, Addy--who is not yet a great reader or skilled in traveling around the city--asks Sarah to help her deliver the packages as she can both read and knows her way around the city. Once Addy shows that she can assist in the shop by picking up and dropping off orders for Mrs. Ford and will not be a trouble underfoot, she is invited to spend time in the shop (helping tidy up) and is free to keep the tips she earns for her deliveries.

Addy does not think it is fair or right that White people believe they are allowed to enslave and abuse Black people. She often does not like White people--she even says she hates them--and even as she becomes less fearful of them she does find many of them and their actions oppressive and racist towards her and other Black people. She finds it grossly unfair that Whites and Blacks are expected to keep separate lives and thinks that they should live and work together. She is a proponent of fairness and does not like seeing other people or animals suffer. Addy questions the status quo many times in her series, especially why Black people's place in society is expected to be beneath that of Whites, and the answers of it just being "how things are" do not appease her.

Addy has moments of fancy and hope--especially about what life in freedom will be like to start--but slowly becomes much more practical (although still given to moments of wishing and dreaming). She still has many moments of idealism, some of which come to happy endings. Addy sometimes leaps before she looks, but also learns to think on her feet to keep herself and others out of danger. She is curious and wants to surge ahead. She does feel she can trust people before she meets them more often than not, for good or bad. In her heart, she is an optimist and thinks good of people. However she initially is easily influenced and upset by other people, especially her classmate Harriet. Addy can be very upset and sometimes ashamed of her poverty status--especially in comparison to Harriet, who has the kind of luxurious life Addy expected in freedom. Addy has a lot of personal pride and wishes her family did not have to work so hard to make a life for themselves in freedom, but is often told by her family there is no need to be ashamed of the fact her family works to get by; they are willing to sacrifice to help her meet her goals.

One of her favorite treats is ice cream; she tastes it for the first time at a church social. Her favorite color is red.[3] Addy can swim; she was taught to swim by her brother Sam back on the plantation. She likes the outdoors and wilderness but is squeamish about dead animals and seeing injuries.

American Girl characterizes her as "courageous" and "strong". A featured video describes her as "resilient".

Family and Friends[]

Family[]

Friends and other Minor Characters[]

Books[]

See: List of Addy's Books

Other Media[]

Doll[]

AddyBFDollFull

The Addy doll.

Main article: Addy Walker (doll)

Collection[]

See: Addy's Collection

Creation Background[]

Advisory Board[]

Addy was the first character released by American Girl to have an advisory board. The members were:

  • Lonnie Bunch, later the founding Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and currently the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution;
  • Cheryl Chisholm, producer and (former) director of the Atlanta Third World Film Festival;
  • Spencer Crew, Robinson Professor of American African American, and Public History at George Mason University who at the time was a curator and historian at the Smithsonian;
  • Violet Harris, researcher and expert on multicultural literature and specializing in Black American children's literature;
  • Wilma King, historian and expert on American slavery;
  • June Powell, (former) expert of the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Ohio; and
  • Janet Sims-Wood, (former) librarian and scholar at Howard University who specialized in the stories of Black women.

Character Development[]

Addy's development took three years, placing the start of the process in around 1990.[4] In 1993, the company reported it had spent $3 million developing Addy.[5] Pleasant Rowland claimed that it was a risk to make an African-American doll any sooner: "There were some real challenges in presenting a brand-new product into a market we did not know, and I felt that the company initially needed to get established financially, before we could take the risk that may be inherent in presenting a doll via direct mail into the African American market. Because typically, middle-class black consumers do not purchase much from direct-mail catalogues." A Washington Post writer added that "demographics experts are split over whether this is true." [6] Pleasant Company's employees were largely white in the early 1990s, which is likely why an Addy advisory board was created, a first for the company. The board primarily met in Washington, D.C., to discuss details of the products and story, and Rowland attended every meeting and was involved in each part of the creation process.[7]

The advisory board considered several time periods for the first black character, including the Harlem Renaissance and civil rights, but the members felt that more recent Black American history could not be discussed if slavery was not addressed first.[8] The board wanted a Black author for Addy's books, and Pleasant Company book editor Bobbie Johnson contacted several children's authors, including Mildred D. Taylor and Joyce Hansen. She then contacted Connie Porter after reading her debut novel; while Porter initially avoided her, she eventually talked to Johnson and agreed to read some American Girl books. She then agreed to meet with Johnson, who flew to Porter with a pitch for the books and a prototype of the doll. After signing onto the project, Porter began her own research by reading all of the American Girl books and going on a trip to Philadelphia. Porter, Johnson, and Polly Athen, a research coordinator at Pleasant Company, visited Philadelphia's Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, which was used as the model for Addy's church.[7]

Porter met with the advisory board twice to discuss the books' content and use of dialect. Porter argued for the use of historical Black dialect: "When you have a group that has been marginalized, you marginalize them even more by thinking they have to talk in a certain way."[6] The board agreed that Addy's story should be empowering, as member Cheryl Chisholm recalled: “Everybody agreed that it had to be a story of a self-authorized flight to freedom. We were all very concerned that the experience of slavery not be white-washed.” Board members reviewed content and fact-checked stories, even reportedly finding a week in 1864 with a full moon in which Addy and her mother could escape to freedom. The board argued for the inclusion of details such as Addy's cowrie shell necklace and a gap between her two front teeth. Addy's hair texture in particular was the subject of some debate, and Chisholm commented that if Addy were given non-textured, European-style hair, then Addy's books "have to deal with the rape of black women during slavery." Addy was ultimately given textured hair.[7]

Violet Harris knew illustrator Melodye Rosales, and she referred her to Pleasant Company. Rosales was hired for Addy's first three books after submitting a painting of her 9-year-old daughter. Rosales later recalled that she saw almost no people of color when she visited Pleasant Company. According to Rosales, an employee asked her if she was Black; Rosales is biracial, and she believed the employee expected her to have darker skin. She also recalled someone on the marketing team saying they weren't sure if Addy's books would sell well. Tension eventually developed between Rosales, Rowland, and the art team over depicting various skin tones for Black characters, such as portraying wealthy characters like Harriet and Miss Dunn with lighter skin. When Rosales had concerns, Harris worked as an intermediary between her and the editorial team. There was also debate over an illustration in Addy's Surprise when Addy and her mother meet newly freed people arriving on the docks in Philadelphia. According to Rosales, Rowland finally told her, “I’m not paying you to be a historian, I’m paying you to be a pair of hands.” According to Slate, Rosales "was sent a termination letter, and she says she was asked by the company to return the Addy doll prototype they had given to her daughter—who served as the model for Addy in the illustrations." By the time Addy debuted in September 1993, Rosales was no longer working for Pleasant Company.[7] Bradford Brown was hired to illustrate the last three books in Addy's Central series. Dahl Taylor revised the illustrations for all six books in 1998 so all books had the same look as part of the Mattel purchase agreement; notably, many Black characters were given a similar range of skin tones rather than the clear variation of skin tones that Rosales portrayed.

Rowland stated that the company expected to sell 750,000 Addy dolls by the end of 1993 and that the majority of dolls would be bought by white customers. She believed that this would make "a major difference in attitudes about race. [5]

Trivia[]

  • Addy was the first Black character released by American Girl, as well as the first doll of color.
  • Addy was the first doll to be released with earrings; she and Josefina Montoya are the only two characters with attached earrings.
  • Like Samantha Parkington, Addy's original illustrations were replaced in 1998. (The illustrations for Molly McIntire started to be replaced in 1989.)
  • Addy prototype dolls, her school furniture, and her school accessories were displayed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in January 1993 as part of the Inaugural Celebration for Children in Washington, D.C. This event was held as part of President Clinton's inaugural festivities. [4]
  • The final version of Addy debuted in September 1993 at the National Council of Negro Women's Black Family Reunion Celebration in Washington, D.C.[7]
  • Addy was the only Pleasant Company historical doll to not be prominently featured on the cover of most of her debut catalogs. The first run of holiday 1993 catalogs included one cover edition with Molly, one with Samantha, and one with Addy; all featured the dolls in their holiday outfits and children wearing matching outfits. Two catalogs with cover information for shipping dates for Christmas were likely distributed later; one with Kirsten in a stocking and one with Addy in a stocking. One million Addy cover catalogs were specifically sent to Black households.[5] By comparison, Felicity is featured on both of the Holiday 1991 covers, and Josefina is featured on two out of three of the holiday 1997 covers. This parallels with Claudie Wells, who did not receive any catalog covers of her own.

See also[]

References[]

  1. Meet Addy, pg 65,: Addy's whole name, Aduke...
  2. Shadows on Society Hill is set in Winter 1866.
  3. Shadows on Society Hill
  4. 4.0 4.1 Pleasant Times, fall 1993.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "The Multicultural Playroom," Chicago Tribune, 1993.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Wholesome Babes in Toyland," Washington Post, 1993.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "The Making of an American Girl," Slate, 2016.
  8. The Civil Rights era was eventually given focus in 2016 with the release of Melody Ellison, while the Harlem Renaissance era was given focus with the release of Claudie Wells in 2022.

American Girl Historical Characters
1760s

Kaya'aton'my

1770s

Felicity Merriman ♦ ★

1810s

Caroline Abbott ♦ ★

1820s

Josefina Montoya

1850s

Cécile Rey
and Marie-Grace Gardner

1850s

Kirsten Larson

1860s

Addy Walker

1900s

Samantha Parkington

1910s

Rebecca Rubin

1920s

Claudie Wells

1930s

Kit Kittredge

1940s

Nanea Mitchell

1940s

Molly McIntire

1950s

Maryellen Larkin

1960s

Melody Ellison

1970s

Julie Albright

1980s

Courtney Moore

2000s

Nicki Hoffman
and Isabel Hoffman

Archived / ♦ Part of the BeForever Collection

BeForever-Revised and Released Historical Characters
1760s

Kaya'aton'my

1770s

Felicity Merriman ♦ ★

1810s

Caroline Abbott

1820s

Josefina Montoya

1860s

Addy Walker

1900s

Samantha Parkington

1910s

Rebecca Rubin

1930s

Kit Kittredge

1940s

Nanea Mitchell

1940s

Molly McIntire ♦ ★

1950s

Maryellen Larkin

1960s

Melody Ellison

1970s

Julie Albright

Archived | ♦ Re-released for BeForever | ♥ First Released in BeForever

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