ABSTRACT
In December 1968, Lou Smith, CEO for Operation Bootstrap. His company's subsidiary, Shindana, introduced "Baby Nancy" that year, a black baby with Negroid features and "natural" hair that functioned just like the white dolls peddled on Saturday morning cartoon programs. Retailing at five to six dollars, 20,000 were sold at the onset of the 1968 Christmas season; Smith estimated that 80,000 could have been sold if sufficient production facilities had been available. In addition, the Black Doll Toy Co. of Watts began offering "Soul Babies", as well as a host of other black equivalency toys such as astronauts and jack in the boxes. While major toy companies had been cashing in on the popularity of black dolls for at least two years prior to 1968, their lines consisted of Caucasian-featured dolls with a brown tint added to the mold.
