The Saralee Negro doll was created by Sara Lee Creech after she witnessed two young little black girls playing with white dolls outside a Florida post office. Creech wondered why dolls were not being made to look like children of different races.

After discussing this with a close friend, who was black, Louise Taylor, Creech discovered that all the black dolls were made of poor quality and the white dolls made of high-quality materials.  Convinced that black children needed and deserved dolls that reflected their physical beauty and made of good quality materials, Creech began to research creating a black doll.

The Saralee Negro Doll entered the market in 1951 and was manufactured by Ideal Toy Corporation. It would be the first of its kind with true-to-life features.

source:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-05-17/news/9001080774_1_white-dolls-black-children-black-baby-dolls

https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1525/tran.2007.15.1.38