‘I’m a North Philadelphia girl. So my memory is my neighborhood.’

What question can get an interviewee to share a point of significance? How about this one: If you could go back to an age in your life, what would it be?

“I was most impressed during my teenage years. It was in the 1950s that Emmett Till was killed. And I think it sort of was a wake [up call for] me. For me, I contacted my cousins in South Carolina, I was very upset. I wanted them to move out of the state. But it was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. And then I was more conscious of who I was. Racism in United States, both North and South.

So, if I could go back, I would have been a more stronger person. Though, in that time, I was not as conscious of racism [my] being born in the North as opposed to the South. It was only in my later teen years that I begin to feel the realization of racism in the United States.”

Barbara Whiteman, who would go on to found the Philadelphia Doll Museum in North Philadelphia, sees her collecting — first of Black memorabilia and later of dolls — as a progression from the Emmett Till story as a teen, into her adulthood in the 1970s as a mother, then as a Temple University student and member of Temple’s Black Student Union, where the cultural programming served as a cultural awakening.

“[My] awakening to history, our history and culture by way of the Black Student Union that gave lectures and programs and going to these [events] with my child is where [I] found consciousness.”

Whiteman’s memories were shaped by family and neighborhood.

“I’m a North Philadelphia girl. So my memory is my neighborhood. We have [had] both professional and business folks. The children played all together. We went to public school, private school, and parochial schools. We just had fun knowing [every] one there. I lived in North Philadelphia, but I was what you call [a] weekend child. I lived in North Philadelphia with my grandmother, and my aunt. And basically, my mother and brothers lived in Tacony. ...”

“I think the most significant change was the death of my father at an early age. That was the breakdown of our family. My brothers basically became head of household, which put them in to have a lot of responsibility at a young age. As I said, I was a weekend child. So, I wasn’t with my mother. During this time, I basically was raised by my grandmother and my aunt.”

Whiteman excelled at school, but in order to financially help her family, she didn’t immediately go to college.

“I really did love school. And I [did] well in school, I was what you might call the teacher’s favorite teacher’s pet. I enjoyed all my subjects, and I help[ed] other kids re [in] high school, I always carried five majors. And I was very good at that, in that I got admitted to the honor society. ...”

“When I graduated from high school, I did not go to college, I went into the work field. My mother says she needed me to help with the finances. I did have my church, who would have sponsored me with scholarship. But at that particular time, my mother needed economic help.”

Episcopal Hospital was her first stop in the work world. Next was retail work at Queen Casual, followed by being a laboratory trainee at Philadelphia General Hospital, and a library trainee for the city of Philadelphia.

Her curiosity and love of the sciences led to her completing her undergraduate studies at Temple University as a biology major with a minor in education. She would go on to become a medical technologist with the VA Medical Center until her retirement.

But what would become one of the great joys of her life started from attending antiques and book shows where items reflecting Black life were displayed. At Black memorabilia shows, she viewed dolls of every creation style, such as rag dolls, folk dolls, and bottle dolls, which led her to begin her doll collection.

“Besides having my family and the birth of my daughter, the creation of the Philadelphia Doll Museum was a big challenge and joy of my life. The museum … had this beginning in my collecting memorabilia, and memorabilia sort of give you an idea about consciousness. Black memorabilia was what we call negative collecting [collecting racist items]. But I wanted to do something positive. I wanted to bring out the dolls.”

Not being a doll lover as a child, Whiteman nevertheless has a vivid memory of asking her mother about a Black doll called Amosandra, and getting the doll. Still, she said the dolls aren’t mere playthings.

“I’m asked a lot of time what is my favorite doll. I don’t have a favorite. All the dolls are important because they’re unique in the type of history of that person, whether or not they’re [a] historical person or celebrity. That is the purpose. We say more than playthings that these dolls are artifacts of history. So, this is the whole purpose and goal of the Philadelphia Doll Museum.”

The Philadelphia Doll Museum recently received funding for cataloging the doll collection and preparing it to go on an exhibition tour to cultural and other institutions in 2024. Though the doors of the museum closed in 2020, Whiteman’s legacy plan is to have the doll collection find its final home at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and although there may be some sadness in this evolution, the collection’s historical impact will still be part of Philadelphia.

Whiteman hopes her experiences can offer guidance to younger members of the community.

“I would tell young people to have patience, to go after their goals, and to work very hard to be conscious of not only local history, but world history. [T]hese are some of the things that we weren’t taught when we were young. So, this would be a good place for them to start finding their place in, in this world and never to give up to work, you know, have that faith and have a faith community that will help them meet their goals.”

Listen to Barbara Whiteman’s recollections in full below or click here.

Philadelphia Doll Museum

Grant will preserve the legacy of Black dolls and the Philadelphia Doll Museum

Black memorabilia and dolls

Collecting Our History: How Black Memorabilia Shapes the Present Through the Past

Black Is Beautiful: Why Black Dolls Matter

This Temple doll exhibit separates dolls by race, and reminds us that we’re all the same