The nodder doll… (bobblehead doll) black, picaninny banks… made of ceramic and chalk were manufactured in China in the 1940s and ’50s. They were marketed and sold to white America as novelty items, souvenirs characterized today as Black Americana.

My First Impression

The first time I saw one of these Pickaninny bobble head doll banks was at the Metrolina Expo flea-market in Charlotte in 2001, I was stunned by my dual reaction to what I saw once I held it in my hands. I saw what they were intended to be and do: The nodder doll banks, originally black pickaninny ceramic bobble head doll banks, wearing straw hats while clutching watermelon, banana & other fruits were made in China in the 1940s/ 5Os, marketed to white America as a novelty, joke, to insult, degrade, to mock. Their origin, their original intent—ugly.

“This work evolved from the themes of racism and gun violence, to a more affirming and celebratory themes of strength, resilience and unapologetic beauty. “

More importantly,  I could see beyond that. I could also see the resemblance of the beautiful faces of black women I know, have known, and now we see on high fashion runways, while others depicted them as a pickaninny souvenir bank, as a racist trope. I began to focus on my love, my adoration and affection to deracinate my way, through my adornment especially through:

The hair. The expression of Black excellence in creativity on our natural hair that was once heavily ridiculed by the mainstream.
The gear (how they are dressed, adorned)


And most of all the love, I and respect for women who have had compassion for their families, raised other folks families, and in some ways helped raise many of America’s children up to the 21st century.  Positioned alongside portraits of black beauty, naked, raw and unapologetically BLACK and owning her blackness.

Nodder Videos

Nodder Doll Gallery

Standard Beauty

13 x 5 x 5, 2024

Sweeter the Juice, The Berry Series 

The sweeter the juice, from that clever old saying, “ the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice,” has become an empowering declaration of Black as beautiful. While many are familiar with the now common phrase, as a child, as far as I was concerned, it  originated from my grandma Flora Ann. (b circa 1897) With her sharp tongue and quick wit, she had a clever comeback  for near ’bout  every occasion, in the form of a clever old saying. The nodder doll banks, originally black pickaninny ceramic bobble head doll banks, made in China in the 1940s/ 5Os, marketed to white America as a novelty, joke, to insult, degrade, to mock. Their origin, their original intent—ugly. Their underlying beauty, I celebrate, deracinate, adorn my new vision, to re- present them ( in these first few berry-themed pieces) with their own, unapologetic standard of beauty with, The Sweeter the Juice, sub series.

Click any image for gallery view

Social Justice Nodder Dolls

The nodder doll… (bobblehead doll) black, picaninny banks… made of ceramic and chalk were manufactured in China in the 1950s, were marketed and sold to white America as novelty items, souvenirs characterized today as Black Americana. I reclaim, re-present and ornately embellish them; to elevate and celebrate their beauty from the ill-conceived form of degradation they originally were created to represent.  The assemblage pieces become a trumpet or a mouth piece, speaking to the subversive nature of racism in the past and present; while representing them as affirmations to the strength and resilience to the modern-day Black woman, who I honor and respect.