Black Santas Brighten Holiday

N A S H V I L L E, Tenn., Dec. 19 -- School teacher Scottie Caldwell hadnever really noticed it until one of her sixth-grade students askedthe question.

Why didn’t she ever see a black Santa Claus at the mall?

Caldwell didn’t have a good answer, but she found a solution.She persuaded some black men at her church in Chattanooga, Tenn.,to dress up as Santa and pose with children for Christmas photos.

For children who didn’t relate to a white Santa, the response toa black Santa has been satisfying, she said.

“A lot of my children are from the inner city and you wouldn’tthink that some of them would want to sit in Santa’s lap,”Caldwell said. “But they did, and liked it.”

Creating a Cultural Link

That need for a cultural link to Christmas is creating a growingniche market for holiday themes and decorations depicting blackSantas and Nativity scenes, said Terrie Williams, who owns a NewYork-based public relations and marketing company.

“It’s important to celebrate our images. For those whocelebrate the traditional kind of Christmas, you want to be able tosee yourself,” Williams said.

Karla Winfrey, a former Nashville television reporter who isOprah Winfrey’s cousin, remembered her disappointment when shecouldn’t find a holiday tie featuring a black Santa.

“I wanted one that looked liked the friendly, brown face thatcame to my house when I was a child,” Winfrey said.

Winfrey, now a freelance journalist living in New York, decidedto design Christmas ties herself and last month launched anInternet company called Colored Christmas that sells ties featuringa black Santa and black angels.

Winfrey will expand her offerings based on the responses she’sgotten from people of other races.

“They say, ‘Oh, that’s a black Santa. I’ve never seen anythinglike that before,“‘ she said.

Santa Without a Beard?