Logan Laurice

If you should take the time to read this post, please take the extended time to read the article it is in response to; a well written light shed on Addy. Addy is an American Doll who was more than just a toy for me growing up. A doll who remains in my memory as a best friend.

Addy Walker, American Girl

After reading through Brit Bennett's remembrance and research surrounding a doll that for me feels like a loved one, I was enlightened and moved to tears.

First let me share how much I loved and cared for my Addy. To me there was only one Addy and she was mine. She had everything American Girl had to offer thanks to my parents, Christmas, birthdays and good grades. She went with me everywhere: sleep-away camp, vacations to different countries, the grocery store. I shared secrets with her and treated her like she was my sister, or a princess, or maybe a combination of both. My Addy, whose origins were enslavement, taught me about a life I didn't live and a time I was only beginning to know. However, as you can already see my Addy's journey didn't end there. She was privileged like me and exposed like me, because she was my companion in the late 90's and early 2000's when my folks would take me on beautiful trips with their hard earned money to places where the only other people around who looked like us were not enjoying the leisure of vacation. My doll and friend, who had endured and escaped being a slave, made it all the way to the 21st century to see how different and the same things were.

I read every book that was written about Addy's fictional life, but I think somewhere along my make believe she became very modern to me, and today when I think back her history is not what sticks out. Today when I look back, her beauty and accessories are probably what stand out the most...at least they did until before I read Brit's article.

Now as I think back and I recall the stories I read about my doll and what they made me feel--sadness, curiosity, confusion, triumph, loneliness--I wonder how much those stories shaped who I am today for the better and for the worse. I feel very strongly where race relations are involved. I'm sure it has much to do with what I was exposed to. However, did me growing up playing with a doll who was a slave affect my future self in such a way? Was this intentional on the author's part? When I think about my other African American friends my age who didn't play with Addy, I notice some of them have a less 'intense' view on the sensitivity of race relations. Also, why is it that only I would know in such detail about such a time so young and not my white counterparts? All questions which arose after reading the article above.

This has peaked my interest in swapping stories with other African American females who owned Addy dolls, and females of other ethnicities who may have owned Addy as well.

All in all, I'm better for the article. Everything else is TBD.

Thank you,

Logan Browning

Logan Laurice

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Addy Walker, American Girl

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Life is Short. Do it Right. -- Joan Rivers