Serena Williams introduces daughter, Olympia, to Black dolls (Photos)

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Alexis Olympia Ohanian, daughter of celebrated tennis champion Serena Williams, plays with colored doll, it has been revealed.

The 15-month-old baby is seen at her playground with her Black, hairless doll lying face down on the floor.

Serena is a Black American sportswoman married to a White American internet entrepreneur, Alexis Ohanian.

In general, dolls come in mostly White/pink shade; and in the Slavery Era, children of slaves could only play with dolls the colour of their skin, which was mostly Black.

Historically, an African-American minister and businessman, Richard Henry Boyd, who was born into slavery in the state of Mississippi, founded the National Negro Doll Company in 1911 after he tried to purchase dolls for his children but could find none that were not gross caricatures of African Americans.

According to Wiki, American companies began including Black dolls in their doll lines in the early 1900s. And between 1910 and 1930, Horsman, Vogue, and Madame Alexander included Black dolls in their doll lines.

Gradually, other American companies followed suit, a Wiki citation says.