My First Black Doll

Ok, so first things first, racism disclaimer: I am not racist.

Moving on.

So, I've been crocheting for roughly 7-8 months now, but it wasn't until very recently that anyone had ever ordered a black doll. Of course, I usually just make dolls and then try to unload them on people (all of my dolls are stored in my bottom drawer until a proper home is found, so it gets kinda crowded in there). When it came to black dolls though, I was terrified to attempt them.

The most obvious reason for this fear is racism. What if my dolls looked like parodies of the African American race? What if they upset people? What if human rights activist found out about my dolls and suddenly I found an ugly picture of myself on the news with the headline: "College Student Faces Charges of Hate Crime for Allegedly Misportraying Minority Group"?

Ok, that last one was a bit much, I live in the south, no one can spell "Misportraying" around here.

Anyway...

I really was nervous about making a black doll, but the order came and I am but a poor little college student, so I took the job. Obviously, I knew better than to use black yarn for this doll. I used a medium brown color I had laying around the house and set to work. Two days after taking the job my client decided on Tiana as the model for her doll. She also chose the blue dress, which is actually kinda sad for me, because I had hoped to make her pretty green dress from the end of the movie.

You guys need music at this point don't you?

Ok, so once we had the details hashed out (which takes 1.5 minutes before accounting starts) I could finally really get to work.

Here is the result (which I am absolutely proud of).

Cool facts:
1) 90% of Tiana was created either in or on the way to Louisiana (for those of you non-Disney fans, that happens to be where the movie takes place).
2) I got to watch Princess and the Frog as I rode up to Louisiana (I was there for Wizard World Comic Con 2012).
3) My older brother helped design her tiara
4)Tiana is my third favorite Disney Princesses (after Belle and Rapunzel).

(I thought this background had more of a 'Nawlins flair)

I hope you guys liked the doll. I have one other doll to make before I share a super awesome tutorial with you guys, but please be patient because I'm also trying to get through college, learn to sew (hopefully another tutorial for you guys), Backstage Manage a play (Ramona Quimby), keep my job (Nursery. Pray for me), and have some semblance of a social life (but really, who needs one of those?)
Thanks!