If young Marie-Grace Gardner had lived in Columbus in 1853, she would have gone to school at Franklin Academy, Mississippi’s first free public school. She might have run errands to pick up medicine at Blair’s Drug Store downtown for her father, one of the few doctors in town. The drug store was located where the Fashion Barn is today. When older, she probably would have attended the Columbus Female Institute, taking classes in music, drawing, literature and botany. We know it now as Mississippi University for Women.
Marie-Grace’s best friend, Cecile Rey, would have overheard debates in her African-American household about slavery. She would have passed by The Haven, the home on Second Avenue North built in 1845 by two “free men of color,” brothers Issac and Thomas Williams. She may have even had her image captured in a revolutionary new process called photography, maybe by Hiram Sherrill, whose gallery was at 422 Main St.
Neither Marie-Grace or Cecile actually lived in 19th-century Columbus, or anywhere else, for that matter. Both are American Girl historical characters from 1853, part of a unique lending program at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. All the library’s figures are accompanied by information about the county’s past in that doll’s time period, and what life may have been like for a girl living in Columbus. Facts were compiled by library archivist Mona Vance-Ali.
Each 18-inch American Girl has her own era and story; several will be soon be used in programming related to civil rights and local history at a library event Feb. 28 called “Discovering Our Past” at 2 p.m. It’s intended for school-age girls and boys interested in learning more about local history. The program includes a photo presentation and arts and crafts, and is in conjunction with Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle. The series of forums in January and February is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“The American Girl company is great about trying to portray different ethnicities and backgrounds,” said Vance-Ali. “We wanted to help children have an understanding of the civil rights movement, and what better way to do that than through something they’re familiar with, like American Girl?”
A Native American character, Kaya, from 1764, will also be part of the Feb. 28 program. When the general public thinks of civil rights, they automatically think of the African-American struggle, noted Vance-Ali. “But there are Native American rights that have been hard-fought for, too,” she said, “so we’re trying to expand on what civil rights means.”
Fiction and facts
Each historical figure is from a different era in the country’s past. Related books and videos help teach aspects of history from the character’s perspective, from the Revolutionary War to contemporary times. Although the books are written for an 8-to-12-year-old target audience, they endeavor to cover significant topics like child labor, poverty, slavery, animal abuse and war in a way appropriate for the level and sensibilities of young readers.
“Mona and I have been wanting to collaborate more in bringing children into the local history of Columbus as much as we can,” said library Youth Services Coordinator Lindsey Beck. “The American Girl stories are realistic historical fiction for their time period, about trials children went through and things our children who read them can relate to.”
American Girl fans
The American Girl lending program got underway in October 2014, thanks to donations from Amy Bloodworth, in memory of her mother, Rhonda Cribbs Junkin, a Caledonia resident and staunch library supporter. Donations by Mary Tillman have expanded the inventory, adding Kaya and also Josefina, who is of Hispanic heritage, from 1824. Figures come with a book and a journal, so each child who checks one out can chronicle their time together.
“It’s our hope that through further donations we’ll be able to extend this even more,” said Beck.
Response has been “overwhelmingly excited” the youth services director added. “It’s been so positive. Everyone who has checked them out and their parents have had the best time learning about Columbus, and each has written some key point on how having the dolls has related to their own life here.”
In the journal accompanying Marie-Grace, Isabella Allison wrote in her 8-year-old hand, “I love American Girl dolls. I love everything about them. When my mom read me the paragraph about what if Marie-Grace lived in Columbus, we got so excited when it said Fashion Barn. My grandparents are the owners of the Fashion Barn and that same building. We thought that was so cool!”
A December entry by 10-year-old Cara James said, ” … I got to take Marie-Grace to Wassail Fest, and they played music — and she loves music.”
The lending program brings it all to life for the girls, said Isabella’s mother, Erika Allison.
“It’s a wonderful idea. It’s fun to imagine if the American Girl lived in your town during the dates that the was alive. You can learn about landmarks and businesses in your town during that time.”
Above all, Vance-Ali and Beck hope the lending initiative and the Feb. 28 program give children a stronger sense of their own historical community and help them form real-world connections between past and present. And — of course — encourage young people to read.
“American Girl figures have interesting lives that everyone who checks them out can read about,” Beck said. “When you pick up a book with a female heroine, you’re drawn into their world, but when you have a physical approximation of that character with you, it adds whole new and deeper layers to the learning process.”
Editor’s note: For more about the American Girl Lending Program, the Feb. 28 “Discovering Our Past” event for youngsters, or the library’s current Created Equal civil rights programming, contact the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library at 662-329-5300 or visit lowndeslibrary.org.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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