This month, one million girls around the country will be invited to take the Pretty Brown Girl pledge to honor their gifts and beauty within, as well as encourage cultural awareness through service and recognition. The Pretty Brown Girl movement will be launched in six major metropolitan areas across the United States, starting with Detroit on August 21, 2011 at the International Black Expo at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History.
“Even though our country is statistically becoming more culturally diverse, we still have a long road ahead of us in ensuring our young brown girls feel comfortable in their own skin,” says Pretty Brown Girl Founder Sheri Crawley. “My husband and I noticed that despite the representation of strong African American females in our daughters’ lives, they were still drawn to assume white dolls and characters were ‘prettier’. We wanted to create a movement to show them how pretty brown skin is and recognize this important message.”
This trend and the need for self-esteem and positive self-images in children can be demonstrated from a report by Anderson Cooper on a recent CNN study conducted by renowned child psychologist and University of Chicago professor Margaret Beale Spencer, a leading researcher in the field of child development. Spencer’s test aimed to re-create the landmark Black Doll Test from the 1940s conducted by Doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark.
About Pretty Brown Girls
Established in 2010, Pretty Brown Girl’s mission is to empower girls to love themselves, help develop strong self-esteem and encourage cultural awareness. The Pretty Brown Girl brand encourages girls everywhere that love to have fun, learn, play, laugh and are happy in their own skin. The website offers “Pretty Brown Girl” branded products which include the book, Pretty Brown Girl, First Day of School by Sheri Crawley, apparel and accessories all branded with the Pretty Brown Girl logo. This fall the anticipated Signature Pretty Brown Girl, an African American Doll will be available.
The Pretty Brown Girl concept was inspired through an experience of Sheri and Corey Crawley with their two daughters, Laila and Aliya, ages 6 and 5, during a visit to the popular American Girl Place. The couple was very disappointed to find that the only black doll to choose from was a free slave. A donation of 5% of all Pretty Brown Girl online purchases is made to Keep A Child Alive. Songstress and Philanthropist Alicia Keys is the co-founder and Global Ambassador of Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that provides medicine to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa.
The Pretty Brown Girl pledge and products can be found at www.prettybrowngirl.com.
Sherry and Corey,
I commend you for taking on such a deserving mission. Uplifting our young Pretty Brown Girls is vital to their longterm success. I have often said it is our responsibility to set the stage for the way our girls view themselves. Empowering them with the confidence to have a voice and feel good about themselves is OUR responsibility.
There are many Pretty Brown Women, like myself,who know the benefit of being empowered with confidence as a child. We must pay it forward.
I am excited for you and this very important project. It will be life changing for so many. My daughter, Amari (in the profile pic) and I will follow your program closely and spread the word. Hope to see you in Chicago soon.
I’m sure that there will be people that will view my comments as being negative, but they really aren’t. First, I’m happy to see this kind of site established, it’s been far too long…perhaps even too late in all honesty. I recall recently that an article appeared in “Psychology Today” claiming that BW are rated the least attractive for all races of women. Naturally, there was a huge backlash as a result. However, in reality there is some truth to that assessment. How can BW be considered as attractive as non- black women, when the measurement analysis is based on Eurocentric standards of beauty? Hence, the results are for the most part predictable. Secondly, it’s so sad to see BW today, not just the young girls trying to emulate white women instead of their own natural God given beauty. Pray tell whatever happened to those beautiful black queens that we used to hear about? Today, it’s all about trying to look like WW, or as less black as possible! That’s really sad. Most of these young lack girls today have very low self-esteems, and rap music, and Hip Hop continue to denigrate young black girls to the point that they only focus on their bodies as a basic for their overall attractiveness, And that kind of self destructive mind set leads to the development of a predictable low self esteem, early sex, and in far too many cases teenagers mothers having OOW babies. Hence, babies having yet more babies. It’s clear to see why black girls in particular in the Clark test choose, and continue to choose the “white doll” over that of the “black doll”. That’s about nothing more than internalized “self hatred” for one’s color, and race. But, let’s be honest here “why” are we surprised to see this? The Clark test has been conducted many times over the years, and sadly with the very same predictable results! So, the question begs to be asked again, and again, Why? Why, are we as a people so surprised to see this process repeating itself? Anyone that walks down the street toady can clearly see “why” these young black girls perceive themselves as they do. One, only needs to look at the overwhelming numbers of BW that are wearing all this “fake hair” in their usual attempt to emulate, and look just like WW…or again as less black as possible! So, why are we again all that surprised to see our young black girls emulating their behaviors, and embracing the same kinds of attitudes? The real issue that needs to be addressed are BW themselves. Because, this kind of “so-called” empowerment movement is nothing more than a ruse since their mothers, continually are more than willing to walk down the same path in their pathetic attempts to look just like white women. So, who’s really the real problem? And, as a result should anyone be surprised to see young black girls doing the same? If, BW themselves would have taken the lead years ago…but didn’t, then we’d see a different mentality in our young black girls today. So, when we talk about images on TV, or in the movies, or printed media let’s not always be so willing to point the usual BW’s finger of blame. Where is their responsibility, their complicity in this process of denial, and self hatred? Again, I’m sure that the majority of BW won’t agree, but again that’s predictable because they in reality are, and continue to be the “root cause”. And, now you wonder why your daughters, nieces, grand daughters, and sisters dislike the fact that their black. You, (Black Women) yourselves created this self destructive process more than did anyone else. Now, it’s so far over the top that sadly it’s irreversible. there’s an old saying that goes something like, being careful for what one wishes for. Over the years the majority of BW wished, and wanted to be white…they still do, and a blind man can see that in their behaviors. But, they unfortunately got what they wished for, but that has only worsen their situation. BW please stop with your denial, because now your daughters are stuck in the same “quicksand”, thanks large in part to yourselves.
There was once a girl name Juanita born into the world of slavery. She was the first born child of slaves Mary and Ned King. Like generations before her Juanita worked in the battered sun being beaten down by its beem while working sun up til sun down daily in the cotton field. Juanita was a dark skinned slave therefore easy work was not a friend of hers. Like many of the African American slave women she was beaten , raped and bored children by her Master. One day as Juanita was walking to her shed of a home she was approached by three white men, instantly she recognized one of the young men as a boy that her mother nursed when they were children. He said to her hello Juanita do you remember me, yes sir, she said with fear. Well aren’t you looking tired and worn today,has the sun taken its course on you today? Yes sir, she replied as she tried to continue walking pass them. Suddenly he stuck his hand out and placed it around her neck and said to her that she was the ugliest sight that God had ever created. Look at your skin tone , you are blacker then a tar baby he said. With fear running through her body, Juanita did not say a word. The two other gentlemen laughed with such demonic sounds that Junita knew she wasn’t going to make it away alive. He then pushed her against the fig tree, tore her cloths off and raped her and once he was done he passed her to the other two gentlemen. One by one they raped her repeatedly. As they finished they left her body there on the ground for dead. As they walked away laughing, Juanita heard one of the gentlemen say “why did God even create Nigger Women, they are only good for one thing”, they all laughed as they disappeared into the day. Junita was discovered laying on the ground barely beaten and unrecognizable to a group of slaves walking home from a days work in the cotton fields. They carried her body back to her shed where her husband was. He looked at her and instead of compassion he stated “what did you do to make them do this to you?” The next morning as Juanita came too she realized her husband Edgar had left. He left her there with their five children to care for her the oldest one being 11 and the youngest being 3. The oldest girl said, mama poppa said he loved us but will not be returning home. As the years passed Juanita rasied her children alone. She died at the age of 36. The generations that came behind her did inherit self hatred because thats all they knew, thats all they saw, thats all people told them. Although Juanita survived the beating and the raped she never survived the pain of not knowing her self worth because life and society had not given her a chance to experience it. There are so many opinions about African American Women. However, if you had not walked a mile in the shoes on one please do not break them down and disect them. Please do not indicate that they want to be like white women when the world has painted white women as the beutiful model of what a women is suppose to look like. If we want to go any further lets talk about women who are getting their lips injected to have full lips like a BW. Lets talk about women getting their back sides injected to make them bigger like a BW. Lets talk about tanning your skin to be darker like a BW. Yes I agree with you BW dont know how beautiful they are. For years they have been mistreated and misguided because of jealousy and because some of them dont know that they are the prize. So instead of getting upset about your post I just want you to educate yourself on African American Women and their history. There is much more to BW than what meets the eye. Do your history. I did mine and I learned that my great great geat great grandmother was raped, beaten, and bored 3 children by her white Master as my grandfather could not do anything but blame her. As most black men do today. Blaming the woman makes it easier to look at himself because looking at her either frightens him or remind himself of who he is and where he come from. Please do your homework. Dont stop at the surface. Usually when you stop there you are vein and will continue to be vein until you dig deeper. Thank you for letting me educate you just a little.. Surely there is more where this came from. Be blessed My lost one.
Thank you for letting God use you. He is the source of all our problems. I work in the “group home” business, the low self esteem in young ladies today go deep and a product of your magnitude is so needed. If any way possible you ever come by our area (Winston-Salem,NC) would you consider visiting and speaking to young women in the “group home settings”. I am always having to remind them they are pretty and they do matter. In my day we never heard of a group home and our mothers never would hve let it happen. They took care of their own. The old ways are almost none exsitance. But with mothers like yourself making the actions needed to bring forth inspiring ways to communicate positivity to Black young people (girls especially) is a Blessing to us. I’m a mother of 7, 4 are girls all adults. I can’t buy them the dolls but the t-shrits I can. My 2 granddaughters will have a doll. Thank you for listening and May God continue to Bless You and your Family.