On view at La maison rouge in 2018, the titular Black Dolls from the Deborah Neff collection are rag dolls, made between 1840 and 1940 by African-American girls and women. In this book, high-school students from Bobigny, a suburb of Paris, have written their “imaginary biography” in twenty narratives. They recount the dolls’ lives, weaving in the violence and hardships of history, but also the affection, solidarity and resistance they might have witnessed, or experienced first-hand. The book, through its young authors, stands as a compelling reflection on violence and freedom, racism and social determinism, but also the power of fiction.