Description:Bournville Village Trust was established by George Cadbury in 1900 to manage his model village at Bournville. It had a longstanding interest in improving housing conditions for the working classes. In 1937 the Trust undertook research into housing needs in Birmingham. In 1941 they published the results in a hard hitting book, ‘When We Build Again’. A film version of the book was also produced with a commentary by the poet Dylan Thomas.
Between 1939 and 1943 Bill Brandt was commissioned to take a series of photographs for Bournville Village Trust. Brandt composed the images to show overcrowded and poor city centre housing as dark and claustrophobic. This was contrasted to the space and light of the modern homes in the new council estates and the Bournville garden village.
In this photograph a very popular toy of the period, a black doll, is on the ground.