Shindana Toys#Baby Nancy

{{short description|California cooperative toy company known for making black dolls}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Shindana Toys

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| type = Toy company

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| founded = {{Start date|1968}} in Los Angeles

| founders = Louis S. Smith, II and Robert Hall

| defunct = {{End date|1983}}

| hq_location_city = Los Angeles

| hq_location_country = United States

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Shindana Toys, a division of Operation Bootstrap, Inc., was a South Central Los Angeles, California cooperative toy company in business from 1968 to 1983. It was launched as a black empowerment and community rejuvenation effort following the Watts riots.{{cite book |last1=Garrett |first1=Debbie Behan |title=black dolls : a comprehensive guide to celebrating, collecting, and experiencing the passion |date=2008 |publisher=Debbie Behan Garrett |location=Dallas, TX |isbn=9780615242026 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHVDS54vuzsC&q=%22baby+nancy%22+doll |accessdate=8 November 2020}}{{rp|205–206}}{{cite news |title=Baby Nancy, pioneering black doll, among latest Toy Hall of Fame inductees |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/11/5/21551164/baby-nancy-black-doll-toy-hall-of-fame-inductees-2020 |accessdate=8 November 2020 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=5 November 2020 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Goldberg |first1=Rob |title=Op-Ed: Baby Nancy, the first 'black' doll, woke the toy industry |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-goldberg-baby-nancy-black-doll-shindana-20190312-story.html |accessdate=8 November 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times|date=12 March 2019}} Company proceeds supported businesses in the Watts area. Named after the Swahili word roughly meaning "to compete," Shindana Toys was community-owned and founded by Louis S. Smith, II and Robert Hall.{{rp|206}} The latter was the company's first CEO and President; though he was succeeded in both posts by Smith. The Chase Manhattan Bank, the Mattel Toy Company, Sears Roebuck & Co., and Equitable Life Assurance helped finance portions of the Shindana Toys operations.

Shindana Toys was historically significant for being one of the first toy companies to market ethnically correct black dolls. A goal of the company was to raise black consciousness and improve self-image. In a 1970s Los Angeles Associated Press article, company president, Louis Smith said, "We believe that only by learning to love oneself can one learn to love others... Shindana believes that by marketing black dolls and games that both black and white children can learn to relate to at an early age, the company can foster the spirit of what Shindana is all about, love."

From a shop on Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California, Doris Conner—an African American, entrepreneurial businesswoman—along with her daughters, Lynne and Tuesday Conner, created, designed, and manufactured many of the clothes worn by Shindana Dolls. They also manufactured the Flip Wilson doll.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

The first doll created by Shindana Toys was named Baby Nancy.{{cite journal |title=Black Dolls are Now Big Business |journal=Ebony |date=December 1969 |pages=90–91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qA975ldsm4C&q=%22baby+nancy%22+doll&pg=PA90 |accessdate=8 November 2020 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |language=en}} Many later Shindana Toys dolls featured ethnically correct names, including names that were Swahili in origin. Operation Bootstrap contracted with Mattel Toymakers to create a talking voice unit, just like the one invented for Chatty Cathy in 1960, for their doll Tamu in 1971. The popular Talking Tamu (Swahili for "sweet") doll was designed to say the following 11 phrases when you pulled her "talking ring":

• My name is Tamu.
• Cool it, baby.
• Do you like my dress?
• Hold me tight.
• I'm sleepy.
• Can you dig it?
• Let's play house.
• I love you.
• Tamu means 'sweet'.
• I'm hungry.
• I'm proud, like you.

Tamu was featured in the Sears Roebuck, JC Penney, and Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogs, and available in most stores where ever toys were sold.

Thanks in part to its acquisition of a company that produced board games, Shindana also started distributing games. These games included titles like "Jackson 5ive Action Game," "The Black Experience," "The Afro-American History Mystery Game," "Captain Soul," and "The Learning Tree."