"Are the Fisher Price Little People REALLY Little People?"

Black History Month shuffles along with a special tribute to the original Fisher Price "Little People"

In October of 1967 the good people at Fisher Price Toy Company developed a few new children's toys made mostly of wood. Early on there was a home with working foorbell for the girls, and the boys were treated to pretend playtime with a barn complete with silo, hayloft, and animal sounds. My oh my, the kids played and played and had a ball, In the early months of 1972, the white kids were thrown for a loop when forced under pressure by the ACLU, Fisher Price came under scrutiny for not having a black figurine mixed in with the white crowd. This was a mystery indeed considering most black parents couldn't afford these toys at the Sears or Kmart. Their kids were still playing voodoo with dolls made of corn on the cob. On the flip side, most of the white kids were unfamiliar with a negro outside of Flip Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr.,and Bill Cosby. At the time, an unidentified negro janitor was sweeping up the Fisher Price woodworking room and accidentally dumped some figurines into the incinerator and rushed like hell to get them back out one by own. It was too late! The few that were salvaged were burnt and resembled a black man. Next day, the C.E.O. of Fisher Price called the man into his office. Thinking he was about to be fired, the old black man reported to the office ready for an ass whooping, Instead, what he got was a promotion to head of Research and Development with an $8000 a year salary. It didn't end there either. When the black man and woman were added to groups, parents went crazy. In the house for girls, Daddy was white while Momma was black. The kids were white too, suggesting this was Dad's 2nd marriage. On the other hand, the boys had no place for a black man on the farm either. Many children said the black man was too lazy to work on a farm and trying to get him to move faster made the black man confrontational.