Bannan, Helen M.

The years following World War II were grim ones for women's organizations. Although the National Woman's Party (NWP) managed to survive, it never managed to thrive. Great determination on the part of its members to ban gender discrimination by means of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) did not prove adequate to the task of getting the amendment through Congress. Frustration within the NWP at the continued failure of ERA turned member against member. Unable to attract replacements for those who had left the party, the NWP diminished in strength. Before it collapsed entirely, upon the death of founder Alice Paul in 1977, the NWP introduced a new generation of feminists to ERA.

The Saralee Doll created by Sara Lee Creech in 1948 and manufactured from 1950-53 illuminated issues--gender, race and even American business histories. The doll was one of the forerunners of modern black doll manufacturing in the United States. In the period between the end of World War II and the end of the Korean Conflict, the Black American image was devalued but Creech attempted to change that image. Creech hoped that the creation of mass-marketed quality black doll would aid children of all races in developing understanding and respect for other people and cultures. After it was discontinued, it took more than a decade and a half and the catalyst of the civil rights movement before quality black dolls became a staple in the mass American toy market. Creech's struggle to bring the doll to market parallels the Black American struggle for acceptance within society. The creation of the Saralee doll, its promotion, production and eventual demise are an important reflection of the social context of the United States in the late 1940's and early 1950's.