An explorer, an abolitionist, a laundress turned landowner and an Army colonel: these are the characters featured in “Heroes of the West: African Americans Who Helped Shape History,” a collection of paper dolls created by Leslie Darwin O’Brien. While freelancing for a PBS affiliate on a show about African-Americans in California’s Central Valley, O’Brien, ’86, was struck by these four tales of heroism and resolved to help bring their stories out of obscurity.
Included in the collection are Nancy Gooch (right), a freed slave who worked as a laundress to purchase the freedom of her children, and Colonel Allen Allensworth, who escaped from slavery to become the highest-ranking African-American Army officer of his time.
The dolls, which come with a costume change, a scenery panel and biographical information, were promoted by PBS during Black History Month. O’Brien wants to put the books in the hands of children studying California history. “They’re toys that teach,” she says.
