Viewing Black Barbie: A Documentary This Fourth of July Holiday
Lagueria Davis’ Black Barbie: A Documentary is an informative, archival project that highlights the important history and genealogy of Mattel’s first Black Barbie. This film celebrates the beauty, diversity, and power of Black womanhood responsible for the boundary-pushing representation in the toy industry. Black Barbie, produced by Shondaland, champions Black women’s storytelling via intimate conversations featuring Mattel’s game-changers: Davis’ own aunt Beulah Mae Mitchell, Kitty Black Perkins, and Stacey McBride-Irby. The film also invites the viewer into conversations with Shonda Rhimes, Maxine Waters, Gabourey Sidibe, Misty Copeland and more on the topic of Barbies, Blackness, and representation. In a three-chapter cinematic exposition, Davis delivers a captivating historical account of Black Barbie’s debut and legacy as told by historians, Barbie collectors, cultural commentators, and Black Barbie herself! In the end, this documentary crowns Black Barbies, Black women, and Black girls as the heroines of their own stories.
The film opens with hilarious verbal epigraphs about the perception of (a White) Barbie. Soon after, Davis invites the viewer into the privacy of her life beginning with her aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell, and her recollection of the absence of Black dolls as a young girl. This intimacy is further captured in the presence of Ms. Beulah’s home where her floor-to-ceiling collection of dolls transforms her home into an archival space for Barbies. Director Lagueria Davis is determined to find out why her aunt loves dolls so much, and this inquiry is the motivation for the documentary.
Chapter one, “Before Black Barbie: A Lack of Black Dolls,” details the cultural meaning of all-White Barbies through accounts of multiple storytellers and offers the history behind Black Barbie’s debut. UCLA Professor Patricia A. Turner discusses the psychological and judicial effects of Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s 1947 doll test on Black children. Prolific writer and executive producer Shonda Rhimes and beloved Congresswoman Maxine Waters offer their memories of their fascination of Black dolls and what it meant to exclude these dolls from the culture. In a narrative redress for the absence of Black dolls, Beulah Mae Mitchell shares her story working for Mattel and advocating for a Black doll in the early 1960s. Her advocacy led to the creation of Black dolls; however, as the documentary reports, Mattel specified that these new dolls were not Barbie.
This distinction served as a painful reminder of the effects of racism in the toy industry, that is, until the film introduces another game changing employee for Mattel: Kitty Black Perkins, the first designer for Mattel’s first Black Barbie which debuted in 1980. Kitty delivers a beautiful and stylish Black Barbie to the culture: she sports short natural hair, beautiful jewelry, and a bright red wrap skirt that shows much of her legs. Closeup camera shots emphasize the beauty and importance of Black Barbie as Kitty details her inspiration and joy for creating a cultural icon whose legacy radiates through today.
Chapter two, “After Black Barbie: Pushing Boundaries,” delves into the expansion of Black Barbie and the limitations of her legacy. This chapter introduces additional important employees for Mattel, namely Stacey McBride-Irby, Doll Designer & Diversity Consultant, hired in 1996. Stacey is the incredible designer behind the 2008 AKA Barbie, the 2009 So In Style Barbie line, and she is the designer behind the beautiful 30th Anniversary Black Barbie in 2010. In a heartfelt interview, Stacey shares that her daughter, Sierra, was the inspiration behind the So In Style line as she wanted to provide dolls to represent the girls in her. Barbie shows that Beulah, Kitty, and Stacey were all intentional about the authenticity and the impact of Black Barbie.
However, this chapter also reveals that Mattel does not currently have a Black designer on their Barbie team, but that does not stop their Black Barbie world-making. The film acknowledges that Mattel has honored Shonda Rhimes, Olympic game changer Ibtihaj Muhammad, and the First African American Female Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland, with their own Barbies in recent years.
And still, Davis wonders, “How far do we still have to go?”
Chapter three, “Future of Black Barbie: Center of Her Own Story,” answers Davis’ question. Dr. Amirah Saafir, Aydrea Walden, Davis’ own sister and niece, Nachelle and Kayden Jackson, and other commentators wrestle with the future of Black Barbie as they consider the boundaries and possibilities of Black Barbie’s expansion.
This beautiful documentary weaves together the history, family, tears, memories, and celebration that surround Black Barbie and her legacy. Davis does an incredible job inserting the story of Black Barbie into American history by highlighting her legacy within a historical timeline that runs through the film. As we celebrate this Independence Day in the wake of the 5th anniversary of the CROWN Act, may we remember that the Black Barbies in our families, at our jobs, in our neighborhoods, and in the mirrors staring back at some of us are all beautiful and worthy of recognition.
Black Barbie: A Documentary streaming on Netflix now.
—Dominique Young
