In this colour print a boy in blue and white striped pyjamas is depicted holding a golliwog. The original golliwog was a central character in a series of books by Bertha and Florence Upton published between 1895 and 1909. The doll the character was based on was influenced by the Blackface performance tradition, and as such evolved from a performance tradition grounded in racism. While from the late 19th century until the 1960s the golliwog flourished as a toy, its popularity began to wane in the 1970s as many British people felt that it promoted racial stereotypes.