Featured Antique/Vintage Africa Figure Brooch,Rhinestones,Skirt That Move

I was going through some jewelry I brought and found this strange brooch.I don't see a name or mark.Not sure of the metal.There's rhinesones on the little skirt altho some are missing.Measure about 3".The clasp stem is a gold color. ,you can move the little skirt as if it's shaking.Figure has a spear,any idea the year it was made or maybe maker.

 

These vintage "tribal" images are considered racist caricatures.

 

I'm black and I don't find it racist.It's an African dancer not a slave.I'm 73,I collect a lot of antique black items,if fact I have slave documents,cookie jars,salt and pepper shakers,I marched with Dr King here in Memphis.I live throught all that and it doesn't bother me.It only bother people who never lived through it.I know my history and where I come from.Not upset just state facts.

 

The theme, and facial style, are very 30s stereotype seen in cartoons (animated or print) made by white men. You can see examples (especially "Jungle Jitters") at Ferris State Uni Jim Crow Museum here. So dating is probably around 30s through mid century.

You can enjoy your object in your own way and I'm glad it doesn't bother you. Others may not because of the academic work that has gone into disassembling ingrained racist culture in objects and art created by white folk. You marched and now the younger generation can work on the next layer of culture.

 

Thank you

 

You go girl !!

You're an inspiration ..!

Respect !!

 

I've a couple of pieces in this style. Would not ever wear them, it's not my place if that makes sense. I need to find a new home for them really.

 

Ditto!

Knowing your identity and how it was shaped is a huge support in life. Your life, experiences, and feelings are your own, don't let anyone tell you there is anything wrong with that.
The same goes for those (younger generation?) who feel offended by these things of course. Yours and theirs are all valid feelings.

I wonder if the back was once a gold tone as well.
Here is a same themed one in better condition than yours, gold tone back. The price is in South African Rands:
https://www.mollysloft.co.za/product/gold-black-metal-african-dancer-brooch-with-white-diamante/

This one is wrongly identified, she looks like a Pacific dancer, but it could be by the same manufacturer. Also a gold tone back, the seller thinks German made:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265527463860

 

When my mom had her antique store in the 90's , a black woman truck driver stopped by every time she passed through. She said she was a picker for Oprah Winfrey and she bought a lot of black "memorabilia" .

 

Seconded, with delight!

 

Well put, AJ...

 

Thank you all for your wonderful comments,I feel very humble.when I was going to nursing school,I was a teacher to help pay my way.I would always tell my students,as well as my children and now my grands and great grands. never ever let your past destory your future.remember your past,but we don't live in the past,that's why it's called the past,it has pass you by.Booker T washington,Madame Walker who by the way was the first black millionaire,A Maceo Walker,Dr Martin Luther King,many others got an education,worked hard to get what they had to pass on.they remembered their past but it never held them down.I love all colors,I have a rainbow of friends and in my family.God bless you all

 

Well said......but more importantly.........well lived !

 

Thank you for sharing your life story with us.

 

@antiquelover69 No doubt this was a typo, but what a great one. We need that word: never ever let your past destory your future.

 

And if it wasn't a typo, it's a GREAT WORD!!!!!!!!!!

 

lol sometimes I do have typo words. I'm not a fast writer,at 73 I get a pass for typo lollol

 

I'm firmly convinced that sometimes the non-dominant, non-verbal side of our brains, for most of us the right side, can intrude silently into what our fingers do, resulting in what I think of as Freudian typos.

 

https://pin.it/jHX8D9S

 

Thank you soo much Aznathalie!! I'm going to pin this on my African old cloth!