"Kids don't care if I'm white, Black or whatever. I'm just Santa:" Santa George

TAMPA BAY, FL — From the moment Santa Claus appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1881, he's always been portrayed as a rotund, cheerful white guy with a full, white beard. That image doesn't match a more diverse country a century later, and Santas from various ethnic groups and backgrounds are appearing at Disney parks and events nationwide.

The image of a fat white guy was drawn by political cartoonist Thomas Nast to illustrate the 1822 poem, "Twas the Night Before Christmas," written by Clement Clarke Moore.

In the poem, Moore describes Santa as a “right jolly old elf." Nast took some liberties with the image, transforming Santa into a portly fellow who, despite his girth, miraculously descended and ascended narrow chimneys, according to the History Channel.

But, it was an ad for Coca-Cola that gave Santa his red velvet and white fur-lined suit, cherry cheeks and plump stature that became the common stereotype for Santa Claus.

From the imagination of Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom, this version of Santa debuted in 1931 in Coke ads in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, The New Yorker and other magazines, according to Coca-Cola.

Nowadays, however, in an effort to provide a Santa that children of all races, abilities and sensibilities can relate to, the jolly old purveyor of Christmas wishes is taking on a whole new guise.

Bucking The Stereotype

On Sunday, International Plaza in Tampa, Florida, hosted the area's first signing Santa for children who are deaf or hearing impaired. Sponsored by the Deaf Literacy Center - Tampa Bay, children were invited to give their Christmas wishes to Santa using American Sign Language. The event also featured holiday stories in sign language and signed music.

Additionally, for the first time in the 66-year history of Disney theme parks, visitors will see Black Santa Clauses at the parks this year including at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista.

This year, Chicago's Black Santa, Dreezy Claus, was the first Black Santa to preside at the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Millennium Park.

And Black, Asian and Hispanic Santas have begun to show up at malls and Christmas events around the country.

To encourage more diversity in Santas, Old Navy introduced a Santa boot camp this year to train Santas of all ethnicities and cultural heritages.

"The brand’s inclusive training course encourages participation from a broad array of backgrounds, ethnicities and cultural heritages to offer more representation in the role of Santa," said Old Navy in a news release.

Old Navy said less than 5 percent of all professional Santas in the U.S. are people of color while almost half of the children under the age of 15 in the U.S. are non-white.

Old Navy said it aims to make Santa more representative of modern-day culture through its Santa boot camp, encouraging any person who wants to play the role of Santa this year - be it professionally, in their community or for their family - to sign up for the inclusive training program.

In the 30-minute virtual course, trainees learn the fundamentals of becoming Santa, including how to respond to kids’ frequently asked Santa questions, key phrases in both sign language and Spanish, and tactics for taking photos with kids.

Old Navy partnered with veteran Santa Timothy Connaghan, founder of School4Santas and owner of one of the largest Santa booking agencies in the U.S., to develop the immersive course.

Casted alongside Connaghan are fellow professional Santas and School4Santa graduates including Dion Sinclair, known as Santa Dee or “The Real Black Santa;” Bob Torres, a seasoned bilingual Santa who has been in the industry for 38 years; and Brian Butler, known as “Soulful Santa."

“It’s not the red suit or white hair and beard that create holiday magic; it’s what you have in your heart,” said Connaghan. “A good Santa should spread joy and exude the holiday spirit, regardless of their appearance.”

Among those taking advantage of the program was Patrick Moss of Houston who has a diverse resume ranging from nanny to operations manager at the House of Blues Houston.

He said he jumped at the opportunity to combine three of his favorite things: making kids smile, Christmas and designing elaborate costumes.

"This is my second year as Santa and my first year being independent," said Moss, who founded Black Santa EFX.

"Santa Pat" has a wardrobe of custom Santa suits that includes what he calls his "safari Santa suit," a vibrant purple suit made with African wax print cotton fabric that a high school classmate found for him in Ghana, West Africa.

"Stepping out in my own, I had to do something to stand out from the traditional red suit," he said.

"Santa Pat" also stands out because he knows American sign language so is in demand for events for deaf and hearing-impaired children.

He will appear at the Santa Experience at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, Dec. 1 through 5.

Finding Black Santas

Moss is among the Santas featured on a Facebook page and mobile app called Find Black Santa, created by Jihan Woods and Vivian Walker.

Woods, a psychiatrist in Arlington, Texas, said the idea came to her after a fruitless attempt to find a Black Santa for her sons to visit.

“After several years of trying to find a Santa that was relatable, that my children could identify with, I realized that, specifically, in Dallas, I wasn’t able to find a Santa that represented my family,” Woods said.

This led her to develop the mobile app in 2018 to help families find Black Santas.

That same year, Walker, living 1,181 miles away in Cleveland, faced a similar quandary.

"I remember staying up late at night looking up Black Santas," Walker said, who ultimately created the Black Santa Directory on Facebook. "I started the page simply because I wanted a Black Santa for my son. I traveled at least four hours for a Black Santa. In my research, I found so many and thought, I should start a network. Finding a Black Santa is heavily time-consuming, so this cuts that search in half."

During their mutual pursuit of Black Santas, Walker and Woods connected through the internet.

Realizing they had the same mission, the two women joined forces to create the Find Black Santa Facebook page, Instagram page and mobile app.

"We both love Santa. We both want to share Black Santa with the world," Woods said. "We both believe that positive Black imagery is critical in the development of self-esteem in children. So this merger was a match made in ... well... the North Pole."

"I truly thought that I was the only one compiling a nationwide database," Walker said, calling Woods her BSS (Black Santa Sister). "Now it's turned out to be a worldwide database with Black Santas represented in the Netherlands, Brazil, the U.K. and three providences in Canada."

The site features Black Santas in St. Louis, Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Little Rock, Arkansas and Providence, Rhode Island, to name a few. So far, no Black Santas in Florida can be found on the list, but the women hope that will change as word spreads.

George Smithers of Louisville, Kentucky, has been featured in the Black Santa directory since it was founded but began playing Santa long before he donned the costume as a professional.

"My oldest daughter is now 36, and I started playing Santa 30 years ago after realizing there were no Black Santas around to take her to see," Smithers said. "I remember driving home after taking her to see another white Santa and saying, 'This is the last time.'"

He went on to play Santa for all his children, nieces, nephews, neighborhood kids and now his own grandchildren. Before he knew it, he was in high demand, with different venues offering to pay his to make appearances.

What began as merely an attempt to find a Santa to which his daughter could relate has turned into a business, BEE N GEE Photos featuring "Santa George."

Patch caught up with his Smithers in Michigan where he had just toured several cities and was preparing to head home for Thanksgiving. Immediately afterward, he'll be back on the road, headed to Philadelphia.

He said it's been a revelation for him.

"To the kids, no matter what race they are, they see me and say 'Santa,'" Smithers said. "All children, white and Black come running when they see me. Kids are colorblind."

He said it was more important to Black parents that their children visit a Black Santa, but Smithers said that's changing as well as blended families become more common and minority populations increase.

"This season, an equal number of Black, Latino and white families are booking appointments for photos," he said. "Kids don't care if I'm white, Black or whatever. I'm just Santa."