BUFFALO, N.Y. — With the start of Black History Month, the Buffalo and Erie County Library is once again celebrating with their Black Doll Exhibit.
This is the fifth annual exhibit is now on display at the central library downtown, and the theme is "Recognizing Royalty."
It celebrates princesses from the pop culture worlds of Disney and Barbie, as well as royal African heritage and more.
Curator Lisa Jacobs-Watson presents this show each year from her personal collection of Black and Brown dolls.
"There is a princess inside all of us, a princess who longs to be a queen. So I think that these dolls in particular help us to embrace that beauty, that grandeur," Jacobs-Watson said.
She says dolls can inspire in many ways, from expanding imagination to presenting career choices, especially if children have dolls that look like them.
"It's a huge opportunity. It's a wonderful way to share what I do with the community," she said. "It's kind of this hobby that has turned into it's own way of teaching. The dolls are used as a tool to teach the concept of dolls and society to let people know that there is a meaning behind dolls, that they have a history that we can relate to."
The library will host an opening night celebration for the Black Doll exhibit on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., featuring guest speaker Zandra Cunningham of Zandra Beauty.
The exhibit is free and open to the public and will be up through April.