A few years later in 1968, Mattel introduced its first Black doll, a friend of Barbie's named Christie.
While there had been other African-American dolls in the Barbie collection before—including Barbie's friend Christie, first introduced in 1968—an official African-American Barbie wasn't created until 1980, alongside a Latina Barbie.
Kitty Black Perkins led an illustrious career designing outfits for Barbie dolls, creating over 100 fashions a year. She designed Mattel's first-ever Black Barbie in 1979. Black Perkins was instrumental in diversifying the popular dolls.
There were three black fashion dolls from Mattel, Francie (1967), Christie (1968), and Julia (1969), according to Dolls Magazine. Mattel has since then produced dolls reflecting all body types and skin tones. They even revamped the historic Black Barbie in 2020.
A "colored Francie", first issued in 1967, was the first doll in the Mattel line with a truly dark complexion.
The long black dress reminiscent of a tuxedo (hence the name), was made in 2001 as part of the Official Barbie Collector Club Exclusives. In pristine condition, and in the box, the Midnight Tuxedo Barbie can go for around $1,000.
African-American Midnight Tuxedo Barbie (2001)
She's a limited edition and one of the Official Barbie Collector Club℠ Exclusives. Follett estimates this Barbie will fetch about $1,000 dollars MIB.
Did you know #Barbie has 3 sisters? Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea.
As of 2021, Barbie has three younger sisters: Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea. Mattel describes Barbie as strong, confident, and always willing to help her siblings.
Fifty years ago this month, Baby Nancy made her debut at the American Toy Fair. A 13-inch black baby doll, Nancy transformed what was racially acceptable in Toyland.
The first Barbie doll was introduced in both blonde and brunette on March 9, 1959.
The first African American male doll, Brad, was introduced in 1968, as the boyfriend of Barbie's African American friend, Christie, who was introduced in 1967.
With that in mind, knowing that the Afro-American community was looking for something that they could identify with and that children could be proud of, I think we achieved that with the Black Barbie doll,” Perkins shared in an official Mattel press release.
Barbie's first black friend, Christie, was released in 1968. However, the first official Black Barbie wasn't released until 1980. Malibu Ken, the first African-American Ken doll, came along in 1982.
3. She's just one of seven Roberts kids. Over the years, her siblings for sale have included: Skipper, Stacie, Chelsea, Krissy, Kelly, Tutti, and Todd.
Skipper Madison Roberts was the original little sister of Barbie, and has been quite popular over the years. When she first came out, she was an alternative for parents who did not approve of Barbie's adult figure.
Physical Appearance and Personality
Skipper is a natural blonde, but she dyed her hair brunette. She is a young teenager, and she has light skin and blue eyes. In her recent appearances, she has highlights in her hair, in colors such as blue, pink and purple.
She's From the 1950s or 1960s
From the time of Barbie's debut in 1959, she has been beloved for her beauty and style. A mint condition Barbie from this era can be worth around $25,000 to collectors, so she's a valuable doll.
And there are three main things that you can tell that she's a number one Barbie. One is she has very arched, triangular-shaped eyebrows. They're very distinctive compared to later Barbies. She also has a white iris that's very distinctive.
The Totally Hair doll is the best selling Barbie doll in Mattel history, with over 10 million dolls sold worldwide.
February 14, 2004: Barbie and Ken officially broke up.
The newspaper assigned the split to Ken's failure to commit and Barbie's excitement to commit, wearing multiple wedding gowns. This was also a year that Barbie ran for president, so she was quite busy.
Black Barbie — Inspiring Women
In 2022, a doll honoring journalist, activist, suffragist and former slave Ida B. Wells was added to the collection, wearing a traditional dress of the time and holding a copy of the Memphis Free Speech newspaper, which she co-owned and edited.
Brown, who thought it could have been an isolated issue, was astonished to see that across different stores, the Black dolls consistently cost more than the white versions. Professor and doll historian at Duke University, Dr. Sabrina Thomas, said that the issue stems from racial inequality in the production of toys.
The Caucasian version of the doll retails for $9.88. The African-American version of the same exact doll however is $11.87.