So remember the new collection of African American Barbie’s that I talked about back in June here. Well guess what? Shoudve known there would be some controversy to go along with it.
My boy Chi, sent this article to my e-mail and I thought it was quite interesting:
What Does the New Black Barbie Say about African Americans and Hair?
BOSTON— Mattel recently released a new line of black Barbie dolls. The “So In Style” Barbies stand out from earlier black Barbies, who shared the features of their white counterparts but were painted brown. The new dolls are named Grace, Kara and Trichelle, and were designed by an African American woman, Stacey McBride-Irby. McBride-Irby told the Associated Press that she wanted to create a line of dolls for young black girls, like her 6-year old, that looked more like them. The new dolls have wider noses, more pronounced cheek bones, a variety of skin tones and fuller lips. But their hair is smooth and silky, and little girls can keep it that way with a hair straightening kit. That puts the new black Barbie in the middle of the debate over African American women’s hair, that’s been stirred also by Chris Rock’s new documentary “Good Hair.” We speak with Francie Latour, associate editor at Wellesley Magazine, about why hair has such importance for black women and what she calls “the line the new black Barbies won’t cross.”
