Lee D. Baker is Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, and African and African American Studies at Duke University. His books include From Savage to Negro: Anthropology and the Construction of Race, 1896-1954 (1998), Life in America: Identity and Everyday Experience (2003), and Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture (2010). Although he focuses on the history of anthropology, he has published numerous articles on such wide-ranging subjects as socio-linguistics to race and democracy. Baker is also the recipient of the Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Teaching Award.

Denise Patrick is an author, poet, adjunct writing instructor, and cloth doll maker. She’s written over 30 published fiction and nonfiction books for young people of all ages, including the historical fiction books that accompanied the American Girl dolls Cécile Rey (2012), Melody Ellison (2016), and Makena Williams (2021). She’s taught bookmaking as well as sock-doll making to elementary school children, and co-mentored an after-school writing group for middle school girls.  Her most recent books are Justice Ketanji, The Story of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (Orchard Books, 2023); and Melody: My Diary (American Girl, 2025). Among her projects-in-progress are an adult short story collection and a super-secret multi-media cloth doll project!

Connie Porter is the author of the Addy series, a series of historical children's novels from American Girl. Her first novel, All-Bright Court was named in 1991 as a Notable Book by the American Library Association, and by the New York Times as one of its "Best Books." Her essays have appeared in Glamour and Seventeen, and her book reviews in The Boston Globe and New York Times. She was named regional winner in Granta magazine's 1996 contest for the "Best American Writers Under Forty." She is also the author of Imani All Mine, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1999 was named an Honor Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, an Alex Award winner by the Young Adult Services Association of the American Library Association, as well as being chosen as one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the ALA. Book List also picked it as one of Editors’ Choice for Best Books Adults Books For Young Adults. In 2019, the Children’s Literature Association named Imani All Mine the Honor Award winner of the Phoenix Award. The Phoenix Award “is given to the author, or the estate of the author, of a book for children first published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award at the time of its publication but which, from the perspective of time, is deemed worthy of special attention.” 2023 marked the 30th anniversary of the publication of the Addy series.

Sabrina Thomas is a social scientist, doll collector, and doll historian whose research focuses on black doll production during the first half of the twentieth century.  Her research examining the impact of material culture and social systems on identity development has been funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Sabrina holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies.  

Pat Shivers- I started making dolls at the age of 9.  My mother taught me how to sew and I always loved to do hair.  I majored in Cosmetology in high school and used old wigs for my dolls, using flour and water for glue. Painting their faces to look like people around me.  This was the beginning of RaggNation Dolls in 1986.  I majored in Art at CSN in Nevada.  I’ve exhibited shows nationally, from Los Angeles, California, New York, Atlanta, Detroit & Chicago. I’ve done film festivals, marketplaces, Radio & Television Talk Shows, including the Black Barbie Documentary Interview, and am featured in the up & coming Black Doll Symposium with Duke University. I also have a new line of Art…it’s called Maskification.  Art made from tree fronds also using clay & other natural fibers.      

Yolanda Hester is a public historian and has been featured on the PBS show Lost LA and Netflix's Black Barbie Documentary. She has worked on projects for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Local Projects, Urban Civil Rights Museum, The Center for Oral History Research at UCLA, and Forest History. She has been published in The American Journal of Play, the Public Historian, and as guest editor, Contours ArteCalle. The second edition of Contours ArtCalle is devoted to Black Dolls. She is the Project Director of the Arthur Ashe Oral History project at Arthur Ashe Legacy at UCLA and co-founder of consulting firm Frameworks and Narratives.

Floyd Bell is a legendary master doll artist who has received numerous local, national and international awards over the past 40 years. His artwork was first commissioned by former First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1999. In 2011, his Sojourner Truth and Praline Lady Dolls were honored in the permanent collection of the Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, located at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. His original sculptures are hand-carved from wood or molded from clay.  He meticulously crafts hand-sewn clothing, costumes and accessories for each doll, ensuring historical accuracy through extensive research.

Aryol (Eh-re-ooh-l) Prater (Pray-tur) is Research Specialist for Black Play and Culture at The Strong. Blogger, curator, and culture critic, Aryol has a BA in Sociology, as well as an MA in African-American History from Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary. In his short time with The Strong he has developed several exhibits, most recently “Re-Play: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Fun."

Tanya Duarte is an Afro-Mexican feminist anti-racist activist. Pioneering defender of the human rights of the Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant community of the Diaspora in Mexico. Defender of the human rights of women, children and the LGBT+ community. She is founder/Director of the academic project "Afrodescendencia México" in collaboration with the University of Veracruz, Xalapa campus, and the UNAM. She is the founder of the annual congresses of Afromexicanidad and Afrodescendencia in collaboration with the Audiovisual Laboratory of the CESMECA Center for Higher Studies of Mexico and Central America, academic unit of the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas. Expert on Afro-Mexican and Afro-descendant topics on the American continent, Colonial and Contemporary History, including migratory phenomena. Advisor to the Supreme Court of the Nation and different government institutions on HRD matters regarding Afro-descendants in Mexico. Creator of the Art and Consciousness/Resistance project "Black Doll's Heart." Founder and Coordinator of the feminist women's group Ixchel Xunam of Valladolid, Yucatán and Tulum, Quintana Roo. Mentioned by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 most influential women in Mexico 2022. Recently awarded by the French Embassy in Mexico in the 60 Women who move Mexico in 2022 project. In 2024 she was honored by the US State Department and received the Global Anti-Racism Champions Award. 

Catherine Ross and Lynda Louise Burrell.  As a museum without walls, we work with schools, colleges, universities, businesses, broadcasters, councils and communities all year round, to help people discover Caribbean and Black history, heritage and culture. From the incredible Caribbean contribution to the UK past and present, to the contemporary issues of creating history and driving change for future generations, we are dedicated to preserving our tangible and intangible heritage in new and unusual ways, both physical and digital.

Jaciana Melquiades opened the first Black doll store in Brazil. 

Dr. Diana Baird N'Diaye is a multidisciplinary scholar, visual artist, and currently Creative Director of the American American Craft Alliance, a project she founded as senior curator at the Smithsonian Institution. where she pioneered several award-winning programs and initiatives centering African American and global African arts. In 2024, as Fulbright specialist, Dr. N’Diaye curated the United States Pavillion at the 2024 DakArt Biennale in Senegal. N’Diaye is a member of the American Crafts Council College of Fellows, a Fellow of the American Folklore Society, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Center for Craft. Dr. N’Diaye maintains an active studio/design practice telling visual stories through textiles that interrogate connections between family, social and cultural, identities, history, spirituality and healing and the natural environment.

Arabella Grayson is curator of the rare collection “Two Hundred Years of Black Paper Dolls." Since 2004, the Smithsonian and several museums have exhibited the work. This past Black History Month, the San Francisco Hyatt Regency created an installation with 8-foot tall paper doll panels from her collection.

Karen Oyekanmi is a professional doll artist and designer with over forty years of experience in the art industry. In 1983, she founded Kissing Kousins Dolls, a nationally recognized company, specializing in handcrafted limited edition dolls.  Her dolls have been sold nationwide and in the United Kingdom. In 1984, Karen founded the American Black Beauty Doll Club, which consisted of a collective of talented and dedicated doll artists. Its mission is to create beautiful black dolls and dolls of color to raise the self-esteem of children of color.  In 2018, ABBDC changed its name to the American Black Beauty Doll Association Inc (ABBDA) and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Karen is CEO of ABBDA, which is the oldest Black doll organization in the country.

Aryol (Eh-re-ooh-l) Prater (Pray-tur) is Research Specialist for Black Play and Culture at The Strong. Blogger, curator, and culture critic, Aryol has a BA in Sociology, as well as an MA in African-American History from Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary. In his short time with The Strong he has developed several exhibits, most recently “Re-Play: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Fun."

Paulette Richards is an independent researcher, and co-curated the Living Objects:  African American Puppetry exhibit at the University of Connecticut’s Ballard Institute and Museum with Dr. John Bell. Her book, Object Performance in the Black Atlantic: The United States (2023) won a Nancy Staub Award for excellence in writing on the art of puppetry from UNIMA-USA.

Rob Goldberg is a historian and author of the award-winning book, Radical Play: Revolutionizing Children's Toys in 1960s and 1970s America (2023). Rob's research on Shindana Toys has appeared in the LA Times and American Journal of Play, and he has been a speaker at The Strong Museum of Play for "Black Toys and Toymakers" and the exhibit "Black Dolls." Rob holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania and currently serves as Head of the History Department at Germantown Friends School. 

Yla Eason is an award-winning educator and entrepreneur who is largely credited with pioneering the ethnic toy market at mass-market stores. In 1985, she created the first mass-market Black superhero action figure, Sun-Man, and introduced The Rulers of the Sun and a line of other multiethnic toys.

Brooke Hart Jones is the founder of HBCyoU Dolls. As a HBCU alum and former toy buyer, she started the brand during the pandemic to share the magic of HBCU’s. In 2022, she partnered with Purpose Toys to launch her brand in the big three retail chains.

LaTiana Ridgell is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden. Her research interests include Black girlhood studies and children’s consumer culture. Currently, LaTiana is completing her dissertation titled “Just For Me: The Construction of Black Girlhood Through Children’s Hair Relaxer Advertisements.”

Angelica Sweeting is a visionary entrepreneur and one of the few Black women to hold a U.S. utility patent in the toy industry. As the creator of Naturally Perfect Dolls, she revolutionized representation in toys, setting a new standard for diversity with innovative, culturally authentic designs that inspire generations

Sabrina Thomas is a social scientist, doll collector, and doll historian whose research focuses on black doll production during the first half of the twentieth century.  Her research examining the impact of material culture and social systems on identity development has been funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Sabrina holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies.