Black Barbie dolls (1967- ) are dolls of apparent African descent made by Mattel as part of its Barbie line.
Some notable Black Barbies:
1967: Colored Francie. Yes, that was her name. She did not sell well. By 1967 “coloured” was becoming outdated, she was a brown-skinned Caucasian, and, probably worst of all in the eyes of White parents (who back then could make or break a Black doll), she was Barbie’s cousin!
1968: Christie, Barbie’s friend. She was a hit. Mattel made Christies till 2005. Her boyfriend Brad came out in 1970.
1980: Black Barbie, the first so named. She was Barbie but only Black. Well, Black Caucasian. Mattel did not heavily market her – you did not see ads for her during the Saturday morning cartoons on US television.
1991: Asha (light brown skin), Shani (brown), and Nichelle (dark brown). Optional boyfriend: Jamal. Designed by Kitty Black Perkins. At long last Mattel made separate face moulds for Black Barbies. And took advice from Dr Darlene Powell Hopson, a Black psychologist who reran the Clark Doll Experiment in the 1980s and found little had changed. It was her idea to have Barbies in three shades of brown since colourism is an issue for Black girls. She also wanted at least one short-haired doll, but Mattel said that long, combable (Caucasian) hair was a key Barbie selling point. They made Shani curvier, but not by much: she still had to fit into all of the Barbie clothes.
1992: Jamaican Barbie. Apron included. Like the other Dolls of the World, she is dressed in an ethnically conspicuous and stereotyped way. Meant as a collectible, not as a toy. Other Black Barbies in that series: Nigeria (1991), Kenya (1994), and Ghana (1996).
1997: Oreo Barbie. Apparently no Black person was in the room when Mattel and Nabisco, the maker of Oreos, came up with this brainwave. Oreo is a slur among Blacks. Many Black Oreo dolls went unsold. Now a collector’s item.
1997 was also the year Barbie got a wider waist, one that was no longer sub-anorexic.
2002: Princess of the Nile. There was also a South African Princess (2003).
2006: Sugar Barbie, designed by Byron Lars. He did a series of collectible Black Barbie dolls for Mattel from 1997 to 2011.
2008: AKA Barbie, to mark Alpha Kappa Alpha turning 100 years old.
2009: So In Style Barbies, designed by Stacey McBride-Irby. Pictured above are Kara, Grace, Marisa, and Chandra. Chandra was added in 2010, Marisa, who is Latina, in 2011. There is also Trichelle (2009), pictured at top. They are all friends of Grace, who in turn was friends with Barbie back in Malibu. They all have professional ambitions and little sisters, who are sold as dolls too.
2018: Katherine Johnson, who helped put the US in space. Other Black women made into Barbies: Diahann Carroll as Julia (1969), Diana Ross (2004 by Bob Mackie), Beyonce (2005), Misty Copeland (2016), Gabby Douglas (2017), and others.
2018: Barbie Fashionista Doll 3. In 2016 Barbie started coming out with Curvy, Tall, and Petite Barbies to cover a broader range of body types than just Anorexic. This one is Curvy, complete with 4c hair. The best yet.
– Abagond, 2018.
Sources: Images mainly from Google Images and Tumblr; “Barbie the Icon” (2015) by Massimiliano Capella; “The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie” (2010) by Tanya Lee Stone; “Forever Barbie” (2004) by M.G. Lord; “Bulletproof Diva” (1994) by Lisa Jones.
See also:
- Barbie
- Clark Doll Experiment
- anorexia
- Alpha Kappa Alpha
- 4c hair
- colourism
- The term “coloured”
- Caucasian
- How black was Ancient Egypt?
- made into Black Barbies:
- Katherine Johnson – Hidden Figures
- Diahann Carroll
- Diana Ross
- Beyonce
- Misty Copeland
- Gabby Douglas
- Jet Beauty of the Week
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I sort of hate to admit this since it sounds so stereotypically feminine in a ditzy way, but I’ve actually always loved Barbie dolls. When I was younger, I used to receive a catalog of collector Barbies that I would pore over for hours. Below are some of my favorites, both Black and non-Black.
Fantasy Goddess of the Americas:
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/2000s-barbie-dolls/fantasy-goddess-of-americas-barbie-doll-25859
Golden Legacy:
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/2000s-barbie-dolls/bob-mackie-golden-legacy-barbie-doll-n6610
Holiday (Black):
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/2000s-barbie-dolls/2006-holiday-barbie-doll-by-bob-mackie-j0950
Morning Sun Princess:
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/2000s-barbie-dolls/morning-sun-princess-barbie-doll-27688
Moja (Black):
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/2000s-barbie-dolls/moja-barbie-doll-50826
Water Rhapsody: https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/1990s-barbie-dolls/water-rhapsody-barbie-doll-19847
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I had two of the Julia dolls. I also had the Rosemary doll from the Rock Flowers line by Mattel — she had an afro!
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I remember my cousin got the Julia doll for Christmas. I got a black life size doll that creeped everybody out. Oreo Barbie WTH.
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The Katherine Johnson doll is adorable that Oreo Barbie can be used as a gag gift.
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I had Caucasian Barbie and her twin baby sister and brother Tutti and Todd, and Christie. All the friends Midge and Francey and Barbie’s boyfriend Ken and their was also Allen.
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Talking Christie is very cute she would make a great collectible
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@ Mary Burrell
Oreo Barbie is just crying out for a talented film student with a satirical streak to make a stop-motion animation starring her.
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@ Solitaire: Maybe SNL could do a spoof.
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I got Twist and Turn Barbie and Talking Barbie. “Ken and I are going on a date”
“What am I going to wear to the prom?”
I love and miss my mom she made sure i always got a Barbie on my birthday. Along with birthday cake and a Halloween costume because she never let me go trick or treating. But Barbies made up for that.
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I would have loved the So In Style dolls. They have the two things I desperately wanted in Barbie dolls when I was a kid: diverse looks and articulated joints!
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Great post! I bought the Oreo Barbie when I first heard about it, knowing it’d become a collector’s item lol. I’ve been called oreo a few times growing up, so this doll was like a reclamation of sorts.
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@All
“Oreo Barbie” sounds pretty funny if you ask me! I actually giggled a bit when I read it! Also, I think 1967’s Francie was meant to be mixed-race, not black per se. In other words, Barbie’s cousin was meant to be a mulatta, not a black woman. She has dark skin with strong Caucasian features.
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