Soon after Barbie was first introduced in 1959 ... “That was a little act of revolution,” Dr. Patricia Turner, an African American studies professor and dean of UCLA College, said in the ...

Barbie eventually blossomed in diversity, too, with the first African American Barbie announced in 1967 and the first ...

Now, Barbie is celebrating the 45th anniversary of their first-ever Black Barbie doll with a collectible doll of creator Black Perkins, who worked at the brand as a pioneering designer until 2004.

In 1967, Mattel introduced the first African American Barbie, but the moulds were the same as the original white dolls. In 1997, Mattel released a black Barbie in partnership with Oreo (she held ...

Barbie campaigned for equal rights in support of her oldest friend Christie, the first African-American Barbie released in 1968. The big hair craze of the early ’90s prompted Mattel to create ...

After Mattel’s culture sweeping debut of Barbie in 1959, it took nearly 17 years for the brand to come out with a version of the collectible doll that represented more than one type of skin color.