American Gender Dolls

Hat tip to @manymanydolls also posting links of relief organizations.

www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/how-to-help-maui-wildfire-victims-donations/

Illustrations by Lauren Gallegos from Time for School, American Girl!

Maxine Brown, who was said to have the largest number of dolls in the city, takes them all for a ride through the park, August 1, 1922. Miss Brown had more than 200 dolls in her collection, and each received special attention in the matter of dress.

When Addy Walker escaped slavery with her mother and arrived in Philadelphia, she didn't know how to read or write. She had never even seen her name written down. But when she started attending school, she very quickly learned to write and spell words, and in only a few weeks became a better reader than children who had been reading for years and years, like her classmate Harriet. Soon, Addy was teaching her mother to read.

Addy learned so quickly, in fact, that her teacher Miss Dunn noticed her aptitude, and recommended her for admission into the Institute for Colored Youth. Attending the ICY would train Addy to be a teacher, and would give her the chance to be educated on a broad range of subjects.

Addy's story is fiction, but the ICY was a real place founded in 1837 to training students for various trades and careers, before eventually moving its focus specifically to teacher training.

Marie-Grace and Cécile, together at last! 🩷💙

Pauline Leung lives in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. In 1884, she is one of around 500 Chinese-Americans living in this bustling frontier town that earned its riches and reputation from the nearby silver mines. Most of the immigrants from China were men, although some women and children did also immigrate. In Tombstone, they usually worked as servants, miners, merchants, restaurant owners, or laundry operators. Their labor was vital in building the railroads and the Huachuca Water Company pipeline.