12 Real-Life Facts About American Families That Mirror The Stories Of The American Girl Dolls

Kaya'aton'my, who is often called Kaya in her books, was the eighth doll when she was introduced in 2002. She was born into the Nimíipuu, or Nez Perce, tribe in 1755, and her stories take place before white Europeans settled the Pacific Northwest.

Today, the Nimíipuu live on a reservation in Idaho, but they originally lived in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.

Kaya's stories were not inspired by the life of one specific girl, and many have pointed out that the books fail to offer a realistic portrayal of life in the Nimíipuu in the 1700s. Kaya's book series is undoubtedly researched, however, and it's likely that the author studied several stories while creating her own. Many details are accurate, though: The Nimíipuu were well-known for being excellent horsepeople, and each council was led by a chief.

Felicity Merriman was the fourth American Girl doll to be introduced. Her stories are set in Revolutionary War-era America. Felicity is portrayed as a bit of an outspoken tomboy who eschews domestic chores and prefers to work at her father's store, and she's one of four children of Martha and Edward Merriman. Her parents are pro-independence, while the family of Felicity's best friend is not.

This mirrors the reality of colonial life in the United States at the time. Roughly only 30% of colonists were in support of separating from Britain, with another third against the idea, and the rest undecided.

However, many of Felicity's stories are definitely fantasy at best. Young girls were rarely granted anything resembling freedom to pursue their own interests and instead spent much of their time at home, learning to cook, sew, and conquer similarly domestic tasks. Education for girls was also not a huge priority of many families, who often taught their daughters from the Bible. It's unlikely a girl like Felicity would have worked at her father's store during the time period.

Caroline Abbott was the 13th American Girl doll to be introduced. Her story is set during the War of 1812. Caroline and Felicity even share a fair bit of overlap, as Caroline enjoys being outside and participating in activities such as fishing. She's also described as very outspoken. Caroline is also really close to her dad, and she is fond of the shipyard that her family runs.

Life during the early 1800s in the United States was definitely different from what it is now, especially for kids. Many children helped their parents run their businesses, and as an only child, Caroline definitely would have been expected to do so. While a lot of families ran farms, Caroline's proximity to Lake Ontario makes the shipyard a pretty logical choice.

Josefina joined the group in 1997 and was the sixth doll to be introduced. Josefina is a Mexican girl who lives in Santa Fe on a ranch. At the time, Mexico had recently won its independence, and Santa Fe was still part of the country. Josefina's full name is Maria Josefina Montoya Romero.

In Josefina's story, she has recently lost her mother, and this has a huge impact on her life.

Josefina was a welcome addition to the American Girl dolls because she represents a part of the population that truly hasn't had its story fully told. Many people forget, or never learned, that Mexican Americans were part of America before it even existed.

In 1997, Juan Garcia, a professor at the University of Arizona, celebrated Josefina. "Josefina Montoya brings Mexican-Americans into the mainstream of American history. We have been portrayed as newcomers invading the U.S. The reality is that we predate the U.S. We also called ourselves Americans. We are new, but we also are old."

The dolls for Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace Gardner were released at the same time in 2014, and both girls represent the same era: 1850s New Orleans. Both girls were born in 1843, and the system of slavery was still legal in the city until 1864. However, Cécile Rey comes from a financially comfortable and very respected family in the city, and she and Marie-Grace take voice lessons together.

Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace Gardner's stories encompass an interesting time in Louisiana. Cécile's family, who are all Black, live freely in the city. Despite that, Black residents at the time still had to endure many racist laws and measures meant to restrict their movement, and many chose to live in exclusive groups to protect themselves and their families. While individual families likely held their own beliefs, it's difficult to imagine that Cécile and Marie-Grace would have become friends in real life, given the realities of the time period they lived in.

Kirsten Larson represents a pretty different part of life in 1850s America: the pioneer era. Her family has immigrated from Sweden, and they are beginning to learn what life in a rustic America is like. Janet Shaw, the author of the Kirsten books, has noted that she had to toe a delicate line: "In Kirsten's case, the larger issues are the Scandinavian immigration and the effect on Native Americans. But it is also the day-to-day life as she lives it."

Kirsten and her family find that as they move across the country, it means that American Indians, who were on the land first, are further pushed away from their own ancestral homes. "The circumstances of Kirsten's life are very different from that of her readers. Her daily life is extraordinarily rigorous. Her family is struggling to become Americanized and make a contribution to their new country. Her friend Marta dies on the journey from Sweden. Her Native American friend must move farther west."

The introduction of Addy Walker in 1993 was huge: I remember it distinctly. Addy was both the first Black doll and the first doll whose story wrestled with slavery in the United States. Addy is very close with her family, and she is completely destroyed when she is separated from many of them at the beginning of her book series. Though they are able to eventually reunite, the trauma of enslavement and loss stays with Addy.

Addy also says that she hates white people, and as she and her family are enslaved by white people, it's understandable. Addy believes strongly in justice and fairness and doesn't believe either is at play in slavery. Once Addy is able to, she begins going to school and rapidly absorbs new information.

Addy's first name is Aduke, which means "Much loved" in the Nigerian language of Yoruba.

Addy's stories don't shy away from many of the realities of the system of slavery. While many of the American Girl stories are about tea parties and learning to ride horses, Addy's is about challenging a deplorable system. Addy's inclusion in the dolls has been debated for years, with people arguing for and against her throughout the entire time. When compared with the lighter stories of many of the dolls, it's a bit jarring to have such a harrowing backdrop for Addy.

Brit Bennett asked a very poignant question in her article about Addy: "If a doll exists on the border between person and thing, what does it mean to own a doll that represents an enslaved child who once existed on that same border?"

Samantha is one of the three original American Girl dolls, and she lives in the Edwardian era in American history. The turn of the century was definitely different depending on what social class you were in, and Samantha lived with her well-to-do grandmother. Both of Samantha's parents died when she was 5.

The background of Samantha's era is invention. White families in the United States worked a variety of jobs, but invention was the name of the game as new gadgets and tools were breaking onto the scene.

Samantha's books address class pretty frequently, as Samantha's best friend, Nellie, works for a family as a servant. Prior to this job, she worked in a factory, and that work damaged her health; Nellie is often portrayed as not having a lot of strength. When they meet, Nellie had never been to school, so Samantha starts to teach her in secret.

While some strides had been made to stymie child labor by this time, many children were still working in unsafe conditions. And while it's unlikely that Samantha's grandmother would have initially allowed her friendship with Nellie, by the early 1900s some class distinctions were slowly, slowly falling away.

Rebecca and her family are Russian Jewish immigrants, and they are very committed to their ancestry and heritage. This means that Rebecca sometimes has a hard time adapting to American life in the 1910s, as it is often at odds with her life at home.

Many Jewish people emigrated from Russia in the early 1900s because they were fleeing persecution. In fact, by 1914, a third of Jews who lived in Russia and Eastern Europe had immigrated into the United States. Many of the families lived in cramped quarters, often with friends and other boarders all in the same apartment.

The original Rebecca books included the story of the 1909 Shirt­waist Strike by mostly Jewish garment workers, though that story isn't in the newer editions of the books. While Rebecca is not based on Clara Lemlich, her story is similar. Clara and her family immigrated into the US from Ukraine, which was then part of Russia. Clara was 17 when she arrived. Like many Jewish immigrants, she worked in the garment industry.

When the 1909 strike began, older male coworkers told Clara that she could not carry out her own general strike. She decided to ignore them and ended up leading the strike. Though she was not able to work at any garment shops after the strike ended, Clara was a lifelong activist for women's suffrage and consumer rights and against nuclear weapons.

Kit, whose real name is Margaret Mildred, lives in Depression-era Cincinnati, Ohio. Kit is a self-described tomboy, and she is not very fond of more traditional activities like baking and dance class. She is, however, a huge fan of baseball.

Kit's dad supports the family, and when he loses his job they find themselves plunged into financial uncertainty. Kit's family begins to take in boarders at their home, and their next-door neighbors are forced to move when they can't pay for their house.

Unemployment reached pretty high levels during the Depression, with one out of every five working Americans out of a job. It's not a stretch that Kit and her family would be impacted, or that they would know others who were. Many business owners were severely impacted by the stock market crash, and many people who worked in manufacturing and cars lost their jobs.

Nanea was the first Native Hawaiian character to be introduced, and her story takes place during World War II. Nanea's first story is set in 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hawaii was not yet a state, so setting the story during this time period offers a bit of a glimpse into what life was like for Hawaiians during the war. Nanea is very close to her family and even works in her grandparents' store.

While the stories tend to offer a rosy picture of a young girl willing to do her part for the war effort, the reality is that Hawaii was an occupied territory during the war. The islands spent the three years following the Pearl Harbor attack under martial law, and the US arrested over 2,000 "suspicious people" in the first 24 hours following the attack. A third of the population was Japanese or of Japanese ancestry, and the United States treated them particularly harshly.

All Hawaiian adults were fingerprinted and given identification papers that they had to be able to produce at any moment. The US also insisted that Japanese residents of Hawaii refrain from speaking Japanese.

Molly McIntire represents a totally different side of the same era: 1940s United States. Molly's story begins in the Midwest in 1943. The war doesn't really infringe on Molly's life in a lot of noticeable ways; it's just generally annoying that she has to live a little less comfortably. However, Molly makes friends with a British girl named Emily, and through Emily, she is introduced to more of the realities of what the war has been like.

Like Molly, many American children planted victory gardens with their families at home during World War II. As much of the war was fought overseas, it was difficult for many kids to truly wrap their minds around what war was like. Children also participated in scrapping, which was basically a precursor to recycling.