Walt Disney Co. DIS has quietly integrated its annual Christmas festivities with the inclusion of Black Santa Clauses in its theme parks’ celebrations.
What Happened: The company made no official announcement about this Yuletide casting, according to a CNN report. Visitors to California’s Disneyland Resort and Florida’s Walt Disney World have recently shared photographs on social media of a Black Santa Claus at the parks.
When queried by CNN, a Disney spokesperson said Santa Claus is represented in different ways around the world and its theme park Santa Clauses will reflect the diversity of the communities surrounding the parks.
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Why It Matters: The presence of the Black Santa Clauses circles back to Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative launched in September, which the company defined as an effort to “showcase stories and talent from underrepresented communities.”
The tradition of nonwhites donning the Santa Claus costume and beard can be traced back to 1920 when the Volunteers of America included a Black man among its sidewalk Santas during its annual Christmas fundraising drive in Pittsburgh. The first department store with a Black Santa was Blumstein's in the Harlem section of New York City in 1943, while the nation’s largest shopping center, Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, hired Larry Jefferson as its first Black Santa in 2016.
Earlier this week, Mondolez International’s MDLZ premiered a television commercial for its Oreo cookie brand that featured what might be the first Black Santa Claus in a nationally televised advertisement.
Photo: DisneyFoodBlog.com
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