Friday, June 29, 2018

Golliwogs

      There is a charming piece from Debussy's Children's Suite called the Gollywog Cakewalk.  The composure got the idea from watching his children play with their Gollywog dolls.

     I looked up the word on the internet this morning.  I love the piece by Debussy but was a little taken aback to learn the the Gollywog is, to many, a raciest symbol.  Here is an essay from a sociology professor at Ferris State University Michigan.  https://ferris.edu/jimcrow/golliwog/

     I remember that when I travelled in England back in 1977, I bought some Robertson's jam.  I kept a diary of my experiences the entire time I travelled and was fond of cutting out colorful labels of products, and put the label from Robertson's jam on a page.  I just checked the page and sure enough, there's a picture of a Gollywog on it.

     Here's a recent article from the Mirror about a court cast involving a Gollywog.  https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/golliwog-row-gran-due-in-court-152106https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/golliwog-row-gran-due-in-court-152106

     Frankly, I think Gollywogs are kind of cute:



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