Did American Girl Dolls Do Right By History? (Part 1)

For so many of us, American Girl dolls were more than just toys, they’re how we learned about the past. But is American Girl’s version historically accurate? Believe it or not, there's no shortage of scholars who have a lot to say about that. 

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This episode of Civics 101 is the first chapter of a story about dolls, and what one beloved brand got right – and wrong – about the American experience. 

Guests include Marcia Chatelain Pulitzer Prize-winning author and the Penn Presidential Company Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania; Spencer Crew, former president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and professor of history at George Mason University; Emily Zaslow, author of Playing with America’s Doll: A Cultural Analysis of the American Girl Collection; and Molly Rosner, author of Playing with History: American Identities and Children’s Consumer Culture. 

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To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro.