The child of English parents, Upton and her family moved to England when she was fourteen. There she spent several years drawing and developing her artistic skills. In order to afford tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled "The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg". The 1895 book included a character named the "Golliwogg", who was described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome". A product of the racist blackface minstrel tradition, the character was classic "darky" iconography. The Golliwogg had jet black skin; bright, red lips; and wild, wooly hair. He sported red trousers, a shirt with a stiff collar, red bow-tie, and a blue jacket with tails — all traditional formal minstrel attire.
The Golliwogg books were the creations of FlorenceKateUpton, the scenarist-illustrator, and her mother, Bertha Upton, who supplied the verses accompanying each scene.
Florence, the second of their four children, was born in 1875.
Uptons remarks on the origin of her hero are interesting.
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