1 00:00:35,411 --> 00:00:39,707 [woman 1] When I think of Barbie, I see a little white doll 2 00:00:39,791 --> 00:00:42,919 with blue eyes and blonde hair and pink lips, 3 00:00:43,002 --> 00:00:44,712 and just in… in all pink. 4 00:00:45,546 --> 00:00:46,506 That's what I think. 5 00:00:47,131 --> 00:00:50,343 [woman 2] I just found Barbie to be unrealistic. 6 00:00:50,426 --> 00:00:52,178 [chuckling] Like, I remember thinking, 7 00:00:52,261 --> 00:00:56,933 "Okay, so a Barbie is what I am supposed to grow into being." 8 00:00:57,016 --> 00:00:59,018 Maybe when I was a grown-up, I would look like that, 9 00:00:59,102 --> 00:01:01,395 but I knew my mom was a grown-up and didn't look like that, 10 00:01:01,479 --> 00:01:02,939 so I was like, "Trash." 11 00:01:04,148 --> 00:01:07,568 Barbie was white. You know, Ken was white. Like, that was what you saw. 12 00:01:07,652 --> 00:01:10,655 So I guess when I saw a Black Barbie, I was like, "They make Black Barbies?" 13 00:01:12,115 --> 00:01:13,741 [woman 3] Well, in my head, 14 00:01:13,825 --> 00:01:18,663 Black Barbie came to be because somebody Black was at Mattel, 15 00:01:18,746 --> 00:01:20,289 and they were like, "Wait a minute." 16 00:01:20,373 --> 00:01:24,335 Rose their hand in a meeting. "Excuse me? Does anybody see the holes here?" 17 00:01:24,418 --> 00:01:27,421 "This is… This is not right. There's nobody that looks like me." 18 00:01:27,505 --> 00:01:30,133 And all the white people at Mattel were like, 19 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:34,554 "Oh, we never thought about that. I guess… I guess that is true." 20 00:01:34,637 --> 00:01:37,598 [inhales sharply] "But who's gonna buy that? Mmm, I don't know." 21 00:01:37,682 --> 00:01:43,855 And the Black person was like, "Mmm, uh, I would, and everybody I know will." 22 00:01:43,938 --> 00:01:45,523 The people at Mattel were like, 23 00:01:46,649 --> 00:01:49,277 "Hmm, but we need a little bit more than that. I don't know." 24 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,655 "We don't wanna put all this money out for something that isn't gonna sell." 25 00:01:52,738 --> 00:01:55,366 And it took said Black person 26 00:01:55,449 --> 00:01:59,537 to keep telling them of the value that it had. 27 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:01,914 And they finally pull the trigger. 28 00:02:01,998 --> 00:02:05,168 And in my head, that's how it came to be. 29 00:02:06,210 --> 00:02:07,170 [woman 4] You know what? 30 00:02:07,253 --> 00:02:08,588 [laughs] 31 00:02:09,839 --> 00:02:11,048 [woman 4] Documentary done. 32 00:02:11,132 --> 00:02:13,217 [laughs] 33 00:02:13,301 --> 00:02:15,303 ["Barbie Girl" by Aqua plays] 34 00:02:26,397 --> 00:02:29,358 [woman 5] OG Black Barbie is so fly. 35 00:02:29,442 --> 00:02:31,819 That 'fro is perfection. 36 00:02:33,237 --> 00:02:35,740 [woman 6] I said, "Wow, there's a Black Barbie." 37 00:02:36,282 --> 00:02:37,491 "I want one of those." 38 00:02:38,409 --> 00:02:41,370 [woman 7] If it doesn't have that brand name Barbie on it, 39 00:02:41,454 --> 00:02:42,914 it's just not the same. 40 00:02:42,997 --> 00:02:45,708 [woman 3] Crowning this doll as Barbie 41 00:02:45,791 --> 00:02:48,794 was telling the world Black is beautiful too. 42 00:02:48,878 --> 00:02:52,048 [woman 8] She represented success. She represented beauty. 43 00:02:52,131 --> 00:02:55,676 I can see possibility in her for myself. 44 00:02:56,260 --> 00:02:59,639 [woman 9] She's Black. She's beautiful. She's dynamite. 45 00:02:59,722 --> 00:03:03,726 ♪ I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world ♪ 46 00:03:03,809 --> 00:03:06,979 ♪ Life in plastic, it's fantastic ♪ 47 00:03:07,063 --> 00:03:10,942 ♪ You can brush my hair Undress me everywhere ♪ 48 00:03:11,025 --> 00:03:14,612 ♪ Imagination, life is your creation ♪ 49 00:03:14,695 --> 00:03:15,696 [music stops] 50 00:03:27,792 --> 00:03:30,711 [Lagueria] So in 2011, I move to LA 51 00:03:30,795 --> 00:03:34,006 to expand upon my dreams of becoming a filmmaker. 52 00:03:34,799 --> 00:03:38,469 I stayed with my aunt and slept in a room surrounded by dolls. 53 00:03:38,552 --> 00:03:40,304 …we're gonna have on eBay. 54 00:03:40,846 --> 00:03:42,056 [Lagueria] I hate dolls. 55 00:03:42,139 --> 00:03:43,349 Okay. Yeah. 56 00:03:43,432 --> 00:03:47,061 [Lagueria] But my aunt loves them, so I decided to find out why. 57 00:03:48,437 --> 00:03:54,110 My name is Beulah Mae Mitchell from Fort Worth, Texas. 58 00:03:54,193 --> 00:03:58,948 I was born in 1938. May 15th, 1938. 59 00:03:59,031 --> 00:04:02,201 [Lagueria] And the Civil Rights Movement came about in the '60s. 60 00:04:02,743 --> 00:04:05,121 So you see how long I lived in that. 61 00:04:06,372 --> 00:04:08,916 Things, uh, were so different. 62 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,461 As a little girl, I… I went to work in a white person's home, 63 00:04:12,545 --> 00:04:15,298 cooking, at the age of 13. 64 00:04:15,381 --> 00:04:20,720 I went, uh, from my first grade to ninth grade in a Black school. 65 00:04:20,803 --> 00:04:23,764 At that time, you couldn't vote. They… they had, uh… 66 00:04:23,848 --> 00:04:27,226 It was something like "pay to vote." [chuckles] 67 00:04:27,310 --> 00:04:31,939 When… when I came up, you had to pay to vote. 68 00:04:32,023 --> 00:04:36,986 [Lagueria] And so, do you think, because you grew up, like, in those times, 69 00:04:37,069 --> 00:04:39,780 for some reason, when you see dolls that are Black dolls-- 70 00:04:39,864 --> 00:04:42,742 Oh, I was so fascinated to see Black dolls. 71 00:04:42,825 --> 00:04:46,746 My mother loved dolls, and I love dolls 72 00:04:47,246 --> 00:04:52,585 because I just love fashion and pretty dolls, pretty people. 73 00:04:52,668 --> 00:04:54,086 They were just gorgeous. 74 00:04:54,670 --> 00:04:58,591 I made my own doll with a… a jam jar 75 00:04:58,674 --> 00:05:03,054 and put the rope in it and comb hair and curl it and things 76 00:05:03,137 --> 00:05:04,555 when I was a child. 77 00:05:04,638 --> 00:05:07,475 And it was fun for us to have that kind of doll. 78 00:05:07,558 --> 00:05:12,646 We used… Even though we had a real doll, we still liked our jar dolls 79 00:05:12,730 --> 00:05:16,984 with the hair that we could comb and… and… and fix. 80 00:05:17,068 --> 00:05:18,694 [both laugh] 81 00:05:18,778 --> 00:05:23,199 I can't remember having a Black… Black doll when I was a little girl. 82 00:05:23,282 --> 00:05:24,992 [Lagueria] Not even a Black baby doll? 83 00:05:25,076 --> 00:05:26,911 Not even a Black baby doll. 84 00:05:26,994 --> 00:05:31,832 I'm almost sure all my dolls… For Christmas, we got white dolls. 85 00:05:31,916 --> 00:05:36,045 When you were seven or eight, did you really, really want a Black doll? 86 00:05:36,128 --> 00:05:37,004 Did it ever-- 87 00:05:37,088 --> 00:05:40,383 I didn't… It didn't occur to me. It was just a doll. 88 00:05:40,966 --> 00:05:42,551 So when people see me now, 89 00:05:42,635 --> 00:05:46,806 and I have more Black dolls than I have white dolls, 90 00:05:46,889 --> 00:05:51,769 now it's no big thing to people because they expect it. [chuckles] 91 00:05:51,852 --> 00:05:53,854 [upbeat music plays] 92 00:05:55,356 --> 00:05:59,276 [Lagueria] Listening to my aunt talk about growing up playing with white dolls, 93 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,530 I was like, "Okay, I played with white dolls too." 94 00:06:03,030 --> 00:06:04,740 Reluctantly, of course. 95 00:06:05,699 --> 00:06:08,452 But playing with a Black doll never occurred to her. 96 00:06:09,161 --> 00:06:12,331 Hmm. I wonder if it occurred to me as little Lagueria. 97 00:06:12,873 --> 00:06:14,458 What a perplexing thing, 98 00:06:14,542 --> 00:06:17,837 to look in the social mirror and not see yourself. 99 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:19,130 It's funny. 100 00:06:19,213 --> 00:06:21,424 My aunt and I are generations apart, 101 00:06:21,507 --> 00:06:23,926 yet we share a similar experience. 102 00:06:25,386 --> 00:06:27,721 My name is Maxine Waters. 103 00:06:27,805 --> 00:06:31,392 I'm a member of Congress, and I've collected Black dolls. 104 00:06:31,475 --> 00:06:32,935 I have 12 siblings. 105 00:06:33,018 --> 00:06:38,149 We were poor, and so, uh, we were given toys at Christmastime. 106 00:06:38,691 --> 00:06:42,736 And we had to go to some place that was designated 107 00:06:42,820 --> 00:06:45,573 for poor people to come and get their toys. 108 00:06:45,656 --> 00:06:50,578 And so, for my sisters, I would always make sure that they got a doll, 109 00:06:50,661 --> 00:06:52,538 and I would say, "Oh, I don't need one." 110 00:06:52,621 --> 00:06:54,415 [Lagueria] Were they Black dolls? 111 00:06:54,498 --> 00:06:56,333 There were no Black dolls. 112 00:06:56,417 --> 00:06:58,002 They were all white dolls. 113 00:06:58,085 --> 00:07:01,839 We didn't know a lot or think a lot, uh, about it at that time. 114 00:07:01,922 --> 00:07:06,010 But as you get a better knowledge and understanding 115 00:07:06,093 --> 00:07:09,305 about yourself and about people of color, 116 00:07:09,388 --> 00:07:13,267 I began to understand how important it was to have a Black doll 117 00:07:13,350 --> 00:07:15,686 and to have someone who looked like me. 118 00:07:15,769 --> 00:07:19,231 Collecting Black dolls, I think, became very important to us. 119 00:07:19,315 --> 00:07:22,860 To say, uh, that we liked them, we appreciated them, 120 00:07:22,943 --> 00:07:25,196 we could afford them, and we were gonna have them. 121 00:07:25,279 --> 00:07:27,281 My mom definitely loves dolls. 122 00:07:27,364 --> 00:07:30,868 She has her own doll collection of all kinds of dolls. 123 00:07:30,951 --> 00:07:34,705 I always think it's because there were no Black dolls when my mother was a child. 124 00:07:34,788 --> 00:07:36,957 So she's been fascinated with them. 125 00:07:37,041 --> 00:07:40,794 If you've gone your whole life and never seen anything made in your own image, 126 00:07:40,878 --> 00:07:43,631 it's gotta be a powerful moment for you as a woman. 127 00:07:43,714 --> 00:07:48,302 In the Americas, there were many places that had banned Black dolls. 128 00:07:48,385 --> 00:07:52,389 And so people were making dolls that look like pillows or quilts. 129 00:07:52,473 --> 00:07:58,229 Or that were made with calico fabric to represent Black dolls. 130 00:07:58,312 --> 00:08:02,024 In the Caribbean, people had something called Topsy-Turvy dolls, 131 00:08:02,107 --> 00:08:06,654 where on one side, you had a doll with a long skirt that was a white doll, 132 00:08:06,737 --> 00:08:10,115 and then you could flip it over and pull the skirt down, 133 00:08:10,199 --> 00:08:11,492 and you had a Black doll. 134 00:08:11,575 --> 00:08:17,039 [Beulah] I do remember seeing Black dolls, but they were like Aunt Jemima dolls. 135 00:08:17,122 --> 00:08:18,165 [Lagueria] Mm-hmm. 136 00:08:18,249 --> 00:08:20,292 -[Beulah] You know what I'm saying? -[Lagueria] I do. 137 00:08:20,376 --> 00:08:22,795 They didn't have no pretty dolls. [chuckles] 138 00:08:22,878 --> 00:08:26,173 We know, at least, that they existed if for no other reason 139 00:08:26,257 --> 00:08:30,135 than Kenneth and Mamie Clark did an experiment, 140 00:08:30,219 --> 00:08:34,265 uh, with, uh, Black children, asking their doll preference, 141 00:08:34,348 --> 00:08:38,143 and had Black dolls to use in that experiment. 142 00:08:38,686 --> 00:08:40,229 [endearing music playing] 143 00:08:41,730 --> 00:08:43,399 [man] We put them on a table. 144 00:08:44,358 --> 00:08:47,570 Two white and two brown dolls, 145 00:08:48,112 --> 00:08:51,574 exactly the same in every respect except color. 146 00:08:52,491 --> 00:08:54,868 We put no clothes on them except a diaper. 147 00:08:55,452 --> 00:08:58,998 And we asked the children a number of very simple questions. 148 00:08:59,498 --> 00:09:00,874 "Show me the white doll." 149 00:09:01,917 --> 00:09:03,627 "Show me the colored doll." 150 00:09:04,211 --> 00:09:06,297 We then asked them preference questions. 151 00:09:07,006 --> 00:09:09,633 Such as, "Show me the doll you'd like to play with." 152 00:09:11,051 --> 00:09:13,512 "Show me or give me the doll that's a nice doll." 153 00:09:14,555 --> 00:09:17,433 "Show me the doll that's a bad doll." 154 00:09:17,516 --> 00:09:21,103 And we found that the majority of Black children at that time 155 00:09:21,186 --> 00:09:24,398 did, in fact, ascribe the positive characteristics 156 00:09:24,481 --> 00:09:25,524 to the white doll 157 00:09:26,233 --> 00:09:30,279 and the negative characteristics to the brown doll. 158 00:09:31,196 --> 00:09:35,743 I then asked the question, "Now show me the doll that's like you." 159 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:42,082 Some of those children looked at me as if I were the devil himself 160 00:09:42,791 --> 00:09:45,044 for putting them in that predicament. 161 00:09:45,711 --> 00:09:49,506 It was the beginning of psychologists' understanding 162 00:09:49,590 --> 00:09:54,637 of, uh, the terrible damage that's done to human beings 163 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:56,639 by racial rejection. 164 00:09:56,722 --> 00:10:00,726 And that sent a shock wave, I think, through the Black community. 165 00:10:00,809 --> 00:10:03,103 Uh, understanding very thoroughly, 166 00:10:03,187 --> 00:10:07,232 uh, that little Black girls did not have self-esteem, 167 00:10:07,316 --> 00:10:12,279 did not think of themselves as beautiful, and would prefer to have a white doll. 168 00:10:13,113 --> 00:10:15,407 [Patricia] And the outcome of that test, 169 00:10:15,491 --> 00:10:18,243 many of the judges on the Supreme Court 170 00:10:18,327 --> 00:10:21,163 in the Brown v. Board of Education decision 171 00:10:21,246 --> 00:10:26,627 said it was the piece of evidence that pushed them over. 172 00:10:26,710 --> 00:10:28,087 Not the statistics, 173 00:10:28,170 --> 00:10:31,632 not the unequal supplies going to the schools, 174 00:10:31,715 --> 00:10:34,551 not the slipshod construction of the schools. 175 00:10:34,635 --> 00:10:39,640 None of that was as convincing as what they got from the Clark test. 176 00:10:39,723 --> 00:10:41,433 So, as a result of that, 177 00:10:41,517 --> 00:10:43,394 we got the Supreme Court decision 178 00:10:43,477 --> 00:10:45,396 in Brown v. Board of Education 179 00:10:45,479 --> 00:10:47,272 that desegregates the school. 180 00:10:47,356 --> 00:10:49,358 [upbeat music plays] 181 00:10:50,359 --> 00:10:52,194 [Beulah] In 1953, 182 00:10:52,277 --> 00:10:55,906 I moved to Los Angeles with my mom. 183 00:10:56,490 --> 00:11:00,869 In '55, my sister got married in July. 184 00:11:00,953 --> 00:11:03,163 Her sister-in-law worked for Mattel, 185 00:11:03,664 --> 00:11:06,583 and she said, "Do you all wanna work during the summer?" 186 00:11:06,667 --> 00:11:09,670 Because they were hiring kids in college. 187 00:11:09,753 --> 00:11:14,174 You really were supposed to have been 18, but I put my age up and got the job. 188 00:11:14,258 --> 00:11:15,551 [upbeat music continues] 189 00:11:20,139 --> 00:11:21,181 This is me. 190 00:11:23,308 --> 00:11:25,728 Uh, spinning the jack-in-the-box. 191 00:11:25,811 --> 00:11:32,568 It says, "Eleanor Ruiz also secures the top and bottom to the Jack body, 192 00:11:32,651 --> 00:11:36,530 and Beulah Mitchell, at machine, gives the Jack a spin." 193 00:11:36,613 --> 00:11:39,199 I was called a "spinner," so I got paid a little more 194 00:11:39,283 --> 00:11:41,493 for doing this particular job. 195 00:11:41,577 --> 00:11:43,579 [upbeat music continues] 196 00:11:49,418 --> 00:11:53,046 This is me, and this is my sister. 197 00:11:53,130 --> 00:11:55,090 We started the same day. 198 00:11:55,632 --> 00:11:59,762 This is Ruth Handler and Elliot Handler. 199 00:11:59,845 --> 00:12:02,347 We worked for the original owners, and it was like… 200 00:12:02,431 --> 00:12:04,975 They called themselves a mom-and-pop shop. 201 00:12:05,058 --> 00:12:08,437 We just loved, uh, Ruth 'cause she was such a strong woman. 202 00:12:09,438 --> 00:12:11,023 Ruth Handler, she went overseas 203 00:12:11,106 --> 00:12:14,276 and came back and wanted to make this doll with breasts. 204 00:12:14,359 --> 00:12:16,111 We was just shocked. 205 00:12:16,195 --> 00:12:20,866 And I was on the first line because I had became a… a lead girl. 206 00:12:25,078 --> 00:12:28,290 ♪ Barbie, you're beautiful ♪ 207 00:12:28,999 --> 00:12:32,544 ♪ You make me feel ♪ 208 00:12:32,628 --> 00:12:36,173 ♪ My Barbie doll is really real ♪ 209 00:12:36,256 --> 00:12:40,344 [Beulah] She named those dolls Barbie and Ken after her two children. 210 00:12:40,427 --> 00:12:45,599 I remember them when they were small. They're a little younger than I am. 211 00:12:45,682 --> 00:12:49,520 This book was written by Ruth Handler. 212 00:12:50,103 --> 00:12:51,188 And in this book, 213 00:12:52,397 --> 00:12:54,525 uh, she has my name. 214 00:12:55,275 --> 00:12:59,530 [Lagueria] So how did you strike up this friendship with your boss? 215 00:13:00,113 --> 00:13:04,701 Oh, because she was always personable. 216 00:13:04,785 --> 00:13:08,872 I worked on the lines, and she would come through and watch us. 217 00:13:09,540 --> 00:13:13,544 And we would be working so fast, and she would say, 218 00:13:13,627 --> 00:13:16,922 "Do you have any suggestions of what I should do?" 219 00:13:17,005 --> 00:13:18,549 She would ask us questions. 220 00:13:18,632 --> 00:13:22,803 "Do you think that this doll would be a good seller?" 221 00:13:22,886 --> 00:13:26,473 "What else do you think we should do to make this doll work?" 222 00:13:26,557 --> 00:13:30,561 She thought as much we thought as she did the people in the office 223 00:13:30,644 --> 00:13:32,479 because we were making the toys. 224 00:13:33,105 --> 00:13:37,651 In '60 or '61, they're saying, "Well, we want a Black Barbie." 225 00:13:37,734 --> 00:13:39,820 She said, "Well, good. We'll see." 226 00:13:40,487 --> 00:13:43,198 Asking Ruth Handler 227 00:13:43,282 --> 00:13:47,744 to consider incorporating a Black Barbie into the product line, 228 00:13:47,828 --> 00:13:49,997 that was a little act of revolution. 229 00:13:50,914 --> 00:13:54,918 We often take for granted the generations before us, 230 00:13:55,002 --> 00:13:59,756 and the steps that they took are often remarkable. 231 00:14:03,010 --> 00:14:05,554 In the '60s, Mattel created 232 00:14:05,637 --> 00:14:08,807 friends for Barbie, uh, that were Black. 233 00:14:08,891 --> 00:14:11,894 Francie, the original doll, came out in 1966. 234 00:14:11,977 --> 00:14:14,271 She was marketed as Barbie's cousin. 235 00:14:14,354 --> 00:14:18,901 In 1967, Mattel offered a Black version of Francie. 236 00:14:18,984 --> 00:14:21,236 Christie came out in 1968. 237 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:23,822 [woman 10] I was most proud of my Christie doll. 238 00:14:23,906 --> 00:14:25,365 They have her labeled 239 00:14:25,449 --> 00:14:28,869 as Barbie's babysitter and best friend. 240 00:14:28,952 --> 00:14:30,162 I'm like, "She can't be both." 241 00:14:30,245 --> 00:14:32,623 She can be the best friend, but she ain't nobody's babysitter. 242 00:14:33,206 --> 00:14:35,500 [woman 11] The features were not of us. 243 00:14:35,584 --> 00:14:39,463 The cheekbones, the nose, the lips, the eyes, everything. 244 00:14:39,546 --> 00:14:43,467 So it was as if, "Okay, we can just make the doll a darker skin, 245 00:14:43,550 --> 00:14:44,843 and that should suffice." 246 00:14:44,927 --> 00:14:47,137 [Virginia] And then Julia came along. 247 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:53,435 Julia was fashioned after the first African American woman 248 00:14:53,518 --> 00:14:56,730 who was the lead in a television show, 249 00:14:56,813 --> 00:14:58,523 and it was Diahann Carroll. 250 00:14:59,399 --> 00:15:00,943 Clinic, Mrs. Baker speaking. 251 00:15:01,026 --> 00:15:02,819 To me, Diahann Carroll as Julia 252 00:15:02,903 --> 00:15:05,989 was the first Black woman to lead a television series. 253 00:15:06,073 --> 00:15:08,033 And so it had that significance for me. 254 00:15:08,116 --> 00:15:11,536 I was already starting to work in television, and I just loved her. 255 00:15:11,620 --> 00:15:13,789 I thought Julia Baker was, like, the best. 256 00:15:13,872 --> 00:15:15,582 I had Christie dolls. 257 00:15:15,666 --> 00:15:16,917 I had the Cara dolls. 258 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,627 I had, like, three Cara dolls. 259 00:15:18,710 --> 00:15:21,880 They all looked exactly the same, but they were doing very different things. 260 00:15:21,964 --> 00:15:26,468 I don't think I ever thought of Cara and Christie as not Barbie. 261 00:15:26,551 --> 00:15:28,762 You know, they were what Barbie meant to me. 262 00:15:28,845 --> 00:15:32,224 But to find out later that those dolls were not Barbie, 263 00:15:32,307 --> 00:15:34,643 and very specifically considered not Barbie, 264 00:15:34,726 --> 00:15:35,686 was interesting to me. 265 00:15:37,771 --> 00:15:39,815 [funky music plays] 266 00:15:39,898 --> 00:15:41,775 [sirens wail] 267 00:15:46,029 --> 00:15:50,492 [woman 12] Lou Smith and Robert Hall, who had witnessed the Watts Rebellion, 268 00:15:50,575 --> 00:15:54,079 wanted to do something to address the poverty and unemployment 269 00:15:54,162 --> 00:15:58,083 that was taking place in South LA in the Watts area. 270 00:15:58,166 --> 00:16:01,461 They devised this organization called Operation Bootstrap 271 00:16:01,545 --> 00:16:03,380 to provide job training. 272 00:16:03,463 --> 00:16:04,673 [funky music continues] 273 00:16:04,756 --> 00:16:06,049 [man] Opening Blacks up 274 00:16:06,133 --> 00:16:09,386 to the technological world that they haven't been involved in. 275 00:16:09,469 --> 00:16:11,013 Yes, that's our job. 276 00:16:11,513 --> 00:16:14,182 Showing cats that there's better ways to use their talent 277 00:16:14,266 --> 00:16:15,726 than hustling on the corner. 278 00:16:15,809 --> 00:16:17,102 Yes, that's our job. 279 00:16:17,185 --> 00:16:19,354 And so, through Operation Bootstrap, 280 00:16:19,438 --> 00:16:21,481 there was a number of businesses that formed. 281 00:16:21,565 --> 00:16:24,276 And one of the most, uh, successful of those efforts 282 00:16:24,359 --> 00:16:26,236 was the Shindana Toy Company. 283 00:16:28,739 --> 00:16:34,077 My father thought Black kids needed a positive self-image, 284 00:16:34,578 --> 00:16:39,458 and he decided to make Black dolls that look like Black people. 285 00:16:39,541 --> 00:16:43,378 And he talked the owners of Mattel, Elliot and Ruth Handler, 286 00:16:43,962 --> 00:16:47,299 out of $200,000 to start the toy company. 287 00:16:47,799 --> 00:16:51,762 Lou Smith was, uh, ahead of his time, and he was an activist. 288 00:16:51,845 --> 00:16:56,391 And when they produced the toys, that was an accomplishment. 289 00:16:56,475 --> 00:16:59,061 When they made the deal with Mattel, 290 00:16:59,144 --> 00:17:01,730 uh, that was considered a great achievement. 291 00:17:01,813 --> 00:17:03,982 They gave them everything to work with. 292 00:17:04,066 --> 00:17:06,318 They sent people from our company over there 293 00:17:06,401 --> 00:17:09,529 to show them how to make Black dolls. 294 00:17:09,613 --> 00:17:12,741 [Yolanda] Folks at Mattel introduced them 295 00:17:12,824 --> 00:17:16,953 to some of the manufacturing processes that they utilized. 296 00:17:17,037 --> 00:17:21,500 There was an investment in really wanting the Shindana toy factory to succeed. 297 00:17:21,583 --> 00:17:23,668 [funky music continues] 298 00:17:27,547 --> 00:17:29,800 So this is Baby Nancy, 299 00:17:31,093 --> 00:17:34,429 and she was born in 1968. 300 00:17:37,599 --> 00:17:40,769 So you could buy Baby Nancy with the natural 301 00:17:40,852 --> 00:17:43,271 if you wanted the doll with the natural. 302 00:17:43,355 --> 00:17:45,982 And then she had short, curly hair. 303 00:17:46,066 --> 00:17:47,234 [Lagueria chuckles] 304 00:17:47,317 --> 00:17:49,694 And this is her original outfit. 305 00:17:50,237 --> 00:17:51,446 They were very much 306 00:17:51,530 --> 00:17:54,699 about recognizing features 307 00:17:54,783 --> 00:17:56,451 that were much more accurate 308 00:17:56,535 --> 00:17:59,371 than what we were originally seeing with Mattel dolls. 309 00:17:59,454 --> 00:18:03,458 [Yolanda] She was really stamped with a level of authenticity. 310 00:18:03,542 --> 00:18:05,752 She's also the only Black doll 311 00:18:05,836 --> 00:18:08,880 that's inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. 312 00:18:10,298 --> 00:18:12,425 [Billie] So this is Disco Wanda. 313 00:18:12,509 --> 00:18:15,095 Disco Wanda was made in the '70s. 314 00:18:15,178 --> 00:18:18,390 [Yolanda] Shindana produced their version of a fashion doll. 315 00:18:18,473 --> 00:18:21,977 Not only would kids receive toys, they would also receive a little booklet. 316 00:18:22,060 --> 00:18:23,645 In the booklet, 317 00:18:23,728 --> 00:18:27,482 you have Nurse Wanda, Ballerina Wanda. 318 00:18:27,566 --> 00:18:30,610 You have the Airline Attendant Wanda. 319 00:18:30,694 --> 00:18:32,404 They were all based on real people. 320 00:18:32,487 --> 00:18:33,572 [Lagueria] Real Black women? 321 00:18:33,655 --> 00:18:35,282 On real Black women. 322 00:18:35,365 --> 00:18:40,537 [Yolanda] Those dolls were modeled after local women and their careers. 323 00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:42,873 And they wanted to tap into careers 324 00:18:42,956 --> 00:18:46,877 that made sense for young Black girls in particular. 325 00:18:47,544 --> 00:18:51,131 [Amitis] The Shindana Toy Company made dolls and toys accessible 326 00:18:51,214 --> 00:18:52,757 to all children, 327 00:18:52,841 --> 00:18:56,469 and they were all adorable and wonderful to play with. 328 00:18:57,012 --> 00:19:02,934 I think it was due to the people that worked at Shindana 329 00:19:03,018 --> 00:19:04,686 and who ran the company. 330 00:19:04,769 --> 00:19:10,525 [Lou Smith] The entire labor force came from South Central LA. 331 00:19:10,609 --> 00:19:15,864 99% of the workers from Shindana could almost walk to work. 332 00:19:16,656 --> 00:19:19,075 Although parents are buying these dolls, 333 00:19:19,159 --> 00:19:21,703 and they may not be there in the factory to see that, 334 00:19:21,786 --> 00:19:22,996 they have a sense of that. 335 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,083 Ultimately, the Shindana Toy Company would become 336 00:19:27,167 --> 00:19:31,755 the largest producer of Black toys during the '70s and early '80s. 337 00:19:31,838 --> 00:19:34,716 It became this amazing proof of concept, basically, 338 00:19:34,799 --> 00:19:37,969 that, you know, there is a market, it is viable, 339 00:19:38,053 --> 00:19:41,014 and there is a way to produce product 340 00:19:41,097 --> 00:19:44,267 that that market really wants and really appreciates. 341 00:19:44,351 --> 00:19:47,229 By the time the '80s rolled around, 342 00:19:47,312 --> 00:19:52,734 bigger corporations started to tap into their model. 343 00:19:52,817 --> 00:19:56,696 And eventually, by 1983, it was… It closed down. 344 00:19:57,781 --> 00:20:00,033 [Beulah] I worked 14 years in the factory, 345 00:20:00,116 --> 00:20:01,743 and in '69, 346 00:20:01,826 --> 00:20:03,745 I was able to go into the office. 347 00:20:04,496 --> 00:20:06,957 I always kinda told myself, 348 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,710 "Well, they needed somebody that… of color." 349 00:20:10,794 --> 00:20:13,171 Because they had one Black guy 350 00:20:13,255 --> 00:20:16,466 that was a programmer up on the sixth floor, 351 00:20:16,549 --> 00:20:19,135 and I was the second person being Black. 352 00:20:20,011 --> 00:20:23,848 I always loved people, and everybody felt comfortable with me. 353 00:20:23,932 --> 00:20:26,059 I'm just that type of person. [laughs] 354 00:20:28,895 --> 00:20:32,691 They hired a Black girl, Kitty Black. 355 00:20:33,275 --> 00:20:34,943 They got her from Trade-Tech. 356 00:20:35,026 --> 00:20:38,363 She came in as a designer for the clothes. 357 00:20:38,446 --> 00:20:41,241 Our first Black designer. 358 00:20:41,908 --> 00:20:44,619 I am Kitty Black Perkins. 359 00:20:45,954 --> 00:20:50,792 I designed the first Black Barbie doll for Mattel toys. 360 00:20:50,875 --> 00:20:53,003 I answered a blind ad. 361 00:20:53,086 --> 00:20:55,297 I went for the interview, 362 00:20:55,380 --> 00:20:58,466 and I left there thinking, 363 00:20:58,550 --> 00:21:04,347 "I have to have this job. I can't do anything else." 364 00:21:04,431 --> 00:21:08,351 They asked me to bring one design. 365 00:21:08,435 --> 00:21:10,645 Take a doll, dress it, 366 00:21:10,729 --> 00:21:12,897 bring the flat patterns back, 367 00:21:12,981 --> 00:21:16,026 as well as the sewn garment. 368 00:21:16,109 --> 00:21:20,363 I came back with six designs 369 00:21:20,447 --> 00:21:21,656 instead of one. 370 00:21:23,074 --> 00:21:24,951 [Patricia] What Beulah Mae did, 371 00:21:25,035 --> 00:21:28,997 she laid the groundwork for Kitty to come in as a professional. 372 00:21:29,497 --> 00:21:33,418 They're… acclimated to the presence 373 00:21:33,501 --> 00:21:38,256 of a strong, competent Black woman in the workplace. 374 00:21:38,340 --> 00:21:41,092 That enables the next step, 375 00:21:41,176 --> 00:21:44,262 which is a strong, competent Black woman as a designer. 376 00:21:44,346 --> 00:21:48,975 Whether or not Kitty would have been welcomed 377 00:21:49,059 --> 00:21:50,935 had Beulah not been there, 378 00:21:51,728 --> 00:21:53,480 I'm not sure you can say. 379 00:21:53,563 --> 00:21:59,194 I met Beulah probably the second day after I was hired at Mattel. 380 00:21:59,694 --> 00:22:04,449 We were proud of her because she… she drove a sports car, 381 00:22:04,532 --> 00:22:07,118 and she matched our Black Barbie. [laughs] 382 00:22:07,202 --> 00:22:09,454 We thought she was a Black Barbie. 383 00:22:09,537 --> 00:22:11,790 A… a real Black Barbie. 384 00:22:11,873 --> 00:22:14,667 -How you doing? -Kitty! 385 00:22:14,751 --> 00:22:15,627 Oh. 386 00:22:16,628 --> 00:22:19,130 You look great. How are you? 387 00:22:19,214 --> 00:22:21,299 [Beulah] Blessed and highly-favored to be here. 388 00:22:21,383 --> 00:22:22,258 Okay, girl. 389 00:22:22,342 --> 00:22:25,261 -I belong to the CRS club. -What is that? 390 00:22:25,345 --> 00:22:26,763 Can't remember shit. 391 00:22:26,846 --> 00:22:28,765 [Kitty laughs] 392 00:22:29,307 --> 00:22:31,976 I'm a member too. [laughs] 393 00:22:32,060 --> 00:22:36,022 -Well, I was at Mattel for 28 years. -[Lagueria] Okay. 394 00:22:36,106 --> 00:22:39,359 But during that whole time, I knew Beulah. 395 00:22:39,442 --> 00:22:44,823 [Beulah] Straight out of Trade-Tech. First Black designer for the Barbie. 396 00:22:44,906 --> 00:22:47,784 Put Black Barbie before the Barbies, 397 00:22:47,867 --> 00:22:49,828 and she did excellent. 398 00:22:49,911 --> 00:22:56,543 You know, those days were so exciting for me. 399 00:22:56,626 --> 00:23:00,296 And everybody who was Black in the company, 400 00:23:00,922 --> 00:23:04,968 uh, didn't matter what their position was, and it was very few, 401 00:23:05,677 --> 00:23:07,470 was coming to find me. 402 00:23:07,554 --> 00:23:09,305 [laughs] 403 00:23:09,389 --> 00:23:12,475 Which I thought was so nice. 404 00:23:12,559 --> 00:23:14,102 My name is Shonda Rhimes. 405 00:23:14,185 --> 00:23:16,312 I'm a television producer, a writer, 406 00:23:16,396 --> 00:23:19,274 and I'm also the first woman to create three television dramas 407 00:23:19,357 --> 00:23:21,526 that have achieved the 100-episode milestone. 408 00:23:21,609 --> 00:23:24,696 Somebody has to be the first. And I was never excited to be the first. 409 00:23:24,779 --> 00:23:25,780 It felt like a burden. 410 00:23:25,864 --> 00:23:30,452 I felt like if I didn't succeed, would anybody else get a chance behind me? 411 00:23:30,535 --> 00:23:31,411 That felt important. 412 00:23:31,494 --> 00:23:34,205 Would they ever put a Black woman in a lead on a television show again? 413 00:23:34,289 --> 00:23:35,665 Those things were very important. 414 00:23:35,748 --> 00:23:40,128 My name is Misty Copeland. I am a professional ballerina. 415 00:23:40,211 --> 00:23:41,588 I'm the first Black woman 416 00:23:41,671 --> 00:23:44,757 to ever be promoted to the position of principal ballerina 417 00:23:44,841 --> 00:23:48,261 in American Ballet Theatre's now 80-year history. 418 00:23:48,344 --> 00:23:49,762 I met Susan Fales-Hill, 419 00:23:49,846 --> 00:23:51,306 who was on the board 420 00:23:51,389 --> 00:23:52,974 at American Ballet Theatre. 421 00:23:53,057 --> 00:23:55,310 Incredible Black woman who became my mentor 422 00:23:55,393 --> 00:24:00,231 and started to really just kind of open my eyes up to… 423 00:24:00,315 --> 00:24:04,360 It's about bringing Black women together and supporting one another. 424 00:24:04,444 --> 00:24:06,571 My name is Ibtihaj Muhammad. 425 00:24:06,654 --> 00:24:10,116 I am an Olympic athlete. 426 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,744 I'm a fencer, and I'm also a Barbie. 427 00:24:12,827 --> 00:24:16,539 Because I grew up being the only African American, 428 00:24:16,623 --> 00:24:18,416 being the only kid who wore a hijab, 429 00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:21,461 sometimes, even, like, in a sport like fencing 430 00:24:21,544 --> 00:24:25,089 and fencing a weapon like saber, sometimes being the only girl, 431 00:24:25,173 --> 00:24:29,594 I really learned early on that I had to show up for myself 432 00:24:29,677 --> 00:24:31,554 and not be fearful of being the only one. 433 00:24:31,638 --> 00:24:33,223 [Misty] It's a protest. [chuckles] 434 00:24:33,306 --> 00:24:36,476 It's a protest just being in a Black body and being on that stage, 435 00:24:36,559 --> 00:24:39,562 a part of a history that does not include you, 436 00:24:39,646 --> 00:24:40,980 that wasn't built for you. 437 00:24:41,064 --> 00:24:45,652 And so I felt like this pressure fueled me to keep going 438 00:24:45,735 --> 00:24:51,157 because just stepping on that stage, uh, could possibly change one person's life. 439 00:24:51,241 --> 00:24:54,452 By the time I became a soloist and a principal, 440 00:24:54,536 --> 00:24:58,498 it was like this feeling of "If I don't make it to this place, 441 00:24:58,581 --> 00:25:01,251 when will there ever be another Black girl in the company 442 00:25:01,334 --> 00:25:02,627 given this opportunity?" 443 00:25:02,710 --> 00:25:07,715 And it became, like, you know, relentless. I was like, "I have to do this." 444 00:25:08,508 --> 00:25:10,843 [Beulah] She was our first Black designer. 445 00:25:10,927 --> 00:25:16,558 I can remember, uh, when Kitty called us together 446 00:25:16,641 --> 00:25:17,517 and she said, 447 00:25:18,101 --> 00:25:23,064 "Don't you think they should be able to make a doll of Black features?" 448 00:25:23,606 --> 00:25:25,608 And that was on her mind. 449 00:25:25,692 --> 00:25:28,820 I do think that there is damage done 450 00:25:28,903 --> 00:25:32,073 when you force children of color to play with white dolls. 451 00:25:33,533 --> 00:25:35,076 My name is Monica Bailey. 452 00:25:35,159 --> 00:25:38,246 I am a mother of three. 453 00:25:38,329 --> 00:25:43,876 I grew up in Inglewood, California, and was mostly raised in Arizona. 454 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,589 We were in a very small town, so trying to even find spaces 455 00:25:48,298 --> 00:25:51,426 that were Black spaces was very difficult. 456 00:25:52,093 --> 00:25:54,429 Mostly, the dolls I played with were white dolls. 457 00:25:54,512 --> 00:25:59,601 So I would literally get some hair grease that my mother would put in my hair 458 00:25:59,684 --> 00:26:03,104 and put it in there from the scalp to the root, 459 00:26:03,187 --> 00:26:06,274 comb it, try to make it kinky, nappy, 460 00:26:06,357 --> 00:26:08,026 to make it look like me a little bit. 461 00:26:08,109 --> 00:26:09,819 Even though I know it wasn't, 462 00:26:09,902 --> 00:26:13,823 it made me feel like it… it was connecting me in some kind of way. 463 00:26:13,906 --> 00:26:18,911 The eyes that were blue, I would get a colored crayon or a marker 464 00:26:18,995 --> 00:26:21,623 and literally color the eyes brown. 465 00:26:21,706 --> 00:26:23,499 The Barbies I had, they were white Barbies, 466 00:26:23,583 --> 00:26:26,085 and I felt like I needed to look like them. 467 00:26:26,169 --> 00:26:27,420 But having that, 468 00:26:28,129 --> 00:26:32,300 um, to be a standard made me feel, 469 00:26:32,383 --> 00:26:35,094 myself and other Black girls, feel inadequate. 470 00:26:35,178 --> 00:26:38,056 I was like, "I need to look like them. I need to be them." 471 00:26:38,723 --> 00:26:41,684 I remember that. I'm getting chills thinking about that right now. 472 00:26:41,768 --> 00:26:43,019 It was very… 473 00:26:44,103 --> 00:26:45,271 [exhales slowly] 474 00:26:45,355 --> 00:26:46,564 Yeah. 475 00:26:47,523 --> 00:26:50,068 Wow! I wasn't expecting that! 476 00:26:50,151 --> 00:26:51,027 [chuckles] 477 00:26:52,445 --> 00:26:53,404 Whoo. 478 00:26:54,864 --> 00:26:55,698 [sighs] 479 00:27:00,203 --> 00:27:02,205 I just remember, um, 480 00:27:02,288 --> 00:27:06,125 not feeling like I was beautiful. 481 00:27:07,126 --> 00:27:08,795 [voice breaks] Because of my skin 482 00:27:10,254 --> 00:27:12,131 and my hair texture. 483 00:27:12,965 --> 00:27:17,053 And being around people that did not look like me 484 00:27:17,136 --> 00:27:19,013 and didn't accept me. 485 00:27:20,056 --> 00:27:21,349 It was very trying. 486 00:27:23,226 --> 00:27:25,728 It was very trying. It was very hard. 487 00:27:25,812 --> 00:27:27,230 Your mind is… 488 00:27:27,313 --> 00:27:29,941 and everything that you, like, conceive 489 00:27:30,024 --> 00:27:32,318 to be true or to be not true, 490 00:27:32,402 --> 00:27:34,112 you learn it as a child. 491 00:27:34,195 --> 00:27:37,990 And if these Barbies are not representative 492 00:27:38,074 --> 00:27:40,702 of what our real reality looks like, 493 00:27:40,785 --> 00:27:43,037 then what are you really saying to these kids? 494 00:27:43,121 --> 00:27:44,247 Like, "You don't exist." 495 00:27:44,330 --> 00:27:46,416 [Kitty] When I designed this doll, 496 00:27:47,417 --> 00:27:51,337 there was a need for the little Black girl 497 00:27:51,421 --> 00:27:54,924 to… to really have something she could play with 498 00:27:55,007 --> 00:27:56,300 that looked like her. 499 00:27:57,719 --> 00:27:59,721 [gentle music plays] 500 00:28:03,933 --> 00:28:08,646 [Kitty] I wanted her just to reflect the total look of a Black woman. 501 00:28:09,439 --> 00:28:14,986 With the regular Barbie, um, the gown was always full, 502 00:28:15,069 --> 00:28:18,156 and the hair was always long. 503 00:28:18,239 --> 00:28:23,494 Well, I wanted her to be the complete opposite of Barbie 504 00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:26,622 and the complete opposite of Christie 505 00:28:27,457 --> 00:28:32,920 in that I gave her bold colors, bold jewelry, short hair, 506 00:28:33,463 --> 00:28:38,885 and a wrapped skirt that could actually show skin. 507 00:28:38,968 --> 00:28:42,680 One of my favorite singers was Diana Ross. 508 00:28:42,764 --> 00:28:44,682 My fashion that I did 509 00:28:44,766 --> 00:28:48,895 kinda looked like something that Diana Ross would wear. 510 00:28:49,562 --> 00:28:52,148 There was another hair designer 511 00:28:52,231 --> 00:28:54,025 named Mellie Phillips, 512 00:28:54,108 --> 00:28:55,401 and she was Black, 513 00:28:55,943 --> 00:28:58,237 so we came up with the short natural. 514 00:28:58,321 --> 00:29:01,073 I had a short natural myself at the time. 515 00:29:02,033 --> 00:29:07,455 We had a designer in sculpturing, Abol. He was a man of color. 516 00:29:07,538 --> 00:29:10,249 We made her lips a little bit fuller. 517 00:29:10,333 --> 00:29:12,919 We made her nose a little bit wider. 518 00:29:13,002 --> 00:29:19,342 Her skin is a little bit lighter than the darkest that we could have done. 519 00:29:19,425 --> 00:29:22,345 It was really a preference, 520 00:29:22,428 --> 00:29:25,264 and I preferred that color. 521 00:29:25,890 --> 00:29:29,685 I knew that Black Barbie was different. 522 00:29:29,769 --> 00:29:33,397 I never realized the magnitude. 523 00:29:33,481 --> 00:29:36,734 ♪ I'm coming ♪ 524 00:29:37,610 --> 00:29:38,569 ♪ Out ♪ 525 00:29:42,156 --> 00:29:43,574 ♪ I'm coming out ♪ 526 00:29:44,575 --> 00:29:49,205 ♪ I want the world to know Got to let it show ♪ 527 00:29:50,915 --> 00:29:52,458 ♪ I'm coming out… ♪ 528 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:59,423 [Yolanda] I can still feel that sense of joy that I felt 529 00:29:59,507 --> 00:30:02,510 when I first was introduced to Black Barbie. 530 00:30:02,593 --> 00:30:05,596 OG Black Barbie is so fly. 531 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,516 That 'fro is perfection. 532 00:30:08,599 --> 00:30:11,060 She's about to hit, like, nightlife, 533 00:30:11,143 --> 00:30:12,979 has a really sick red dress. 534 00:30:13,062 --> 00:30:16,816 She has melanin, for real, in her skin. [laughs] She's a little brown girl. 535 00:30:16,899 --> 00:30:20,194 [Lagueria] And so when did you first fall in love with Black Barbie? 536 00:30:20,278 --> 00:30:23,281 When I first got one in my hand. [laughs] 537 00:30:23,364 --> 00:30:27,702 It says, "She's Black. She's beautiful. She's dynamite." 538 00:30:28,244 --> 00:30:32,790 That was a pride, for sure, to see your first Black Barbie. 539 00:30:33,374 --> 00:30:37,211 [Patricia] For me, the step forward that was made 540 00:30:37,295 --> 00:30:40,923 when they called the Black doll Barbie, 541 00:30:41,507 --> 00:30:43,718 and not Francie or another name, 542 00:30:43,801 --> 00:30:46,345 was it allowed the Black girl 543 00:30:46,429 --> 00:30:48,180 to be the heroine of the story. 544 00:30:49,140 --> 00:30:54,437 In all of the imagined play with Barbie, she's the center of attention. 545 00:30:54,937 --> 00:30:57,106 She's the belle of the ball. 546 00:30:57,189 --> 00:30:59,483 She's who you would want to be. 547 00:30:59,567 --> 00:31:01,819 And I don't think in anyone's life 548 00:31:01,903 --> 00:31:05,156 you should wanna be the belle's best friend. 549 00:31:05,239 --> 00:31:09,118 It's just a sort of acknowledgment of your existence, 550 00:31:09,201 --> 00:31:12,663 and that you're here, and that you are valued. 551 00:31:12,747 --> 00:31:16,167 Crowning the… this… this doll as Barbie… 552 00:31:16,250 --> 00:31:19,003 The fight for "No, no, no, no, we can't just call this 553 00:31:19,086 --> 00:31:21,881 a fashion doll or a…" 554 00:31:21,964 --> 00:31:23,758 "This is a Barbie too." 555 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,470 …was telling the world Black is beautiful too. 556 00:31:27,553 --> 00:31:33,059 So I'm so grateful that we are included now 557 00:31:33,142 --> 00:31:34,435 in the legacy of that. 558 00:31:34,518 --> 00:31:38,230 There was, within my family, within the adults, 559 00:31:38,314 --> 00:31:43,611 the kinds of discussions about whether this was a step forward. 560 00:31:43,694 --> 00:31:46,530 Um, whether she looked like the doll 561 00:31:46,614 --> 00:31:49,992 that you would want to give a member of the family. 562 00:31:50,076 --> 00:31:53,412 And I hate to be reductive, but it's all about the hair. 563 00:31:53,496 --> 00:31:55,373 We did do a focus group. 564 00:31:55,456 --> 00:31:58,417 Some of the comments from the moms 565 00:31:58,501 --> 00:32:03,297 were about the hair being short rather than long 566 00:32:03,381 --> 00:32:07,134 or the dress being slim rather than full. 567 00:32:07,218 --> 00:32:11,138 They didn't know whether this was done intentional 568 00:32:11,639 --> 00:32:14,600 or whether it was just slighting. 569 00:32:14,684 --> 00:32:19,105 Mattel, at that time, invited a, um, 570 00:32:20,356 --> 00:32:21,941 child psychologist 571 00:32:23,109 --> 00:32:26,404 into Mattel, uh, to discuss the whole doll. 572 00:32:26,487 --> 00:32:31,367 It was about the same feeling that the moms had had. 573 00:32:32,868 --> 00:32:37,915 But when the child psychologist found out that the designer was Black, 574 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:40,418 it all went away. 575 00:32:41,002 --> 00:32:45,256 [Lagueria] It took 21 years for one Black fashion doll 576 00:32:45,339 --> 00:32:47,508 to be worthy of the Barbie name. 577 00:32:47,591 --> 00:32:50,094 Dang, it's a doll, y'all. 578 00:32:50,594 --> 00:32:53,305 Keeping it real, I didn't know Black Barbie existed 579 00:32:53,389 --> 00:32:55,182 until my aunt told me her story. 580 00:32:55,266 --> 00:32:58,394 And that got me thinking. "Do people know about Black Barbie?" 581 00:32:59,270 --> 00:33:00,896 -Can I see her? -[Lagueria] Yes. 582 00:33:01,397 --> 00:33:03,232 This is one of her outfits. 583 00:33:03,315 --> 00:33:06,152 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I actually have seen her 584 00:33:06,235 --> 00:33:09,321 'cause I thought she looked exactly like Diana Ross. 585 00:33:09,405 --> 00:33:11,824 Yeah, I have seen her. Thanks. 586 00:33:11,907 --> 00:33:15,286 Whoo, I missed that. She's a little light-skinned. 587 00:33:15,369 --> 00:33:18,456 [laughs] 588 00:33:18,539 --> 00:33:21,542 Oh, like a Foxy Brown. 589 00:33:22,084 --> 00:33:25,546 -[Lagueria] Yeah. -Yes, yes, she looks very '70s. 590 00:33:25,629 --> 00:33:28,257 This fit is cute. The, like, off-the-shoulder cutout. 591 00:33:28,924 --> 00:33:31,427 -This is cute. -[Lagueria] Yeah, yeah. 592 00:33:31,510 --> 00:33:35,681 And this is their version of a 'fro, I guess, right? [laughs] 593 00:33:35,765 --> 00:33:39,477 I barely knew that she existed. I do remember seeing a picture of her. 594 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:41,395 For what time it was, 595 00:33:41,479 --> 00:33:44,398 I definitely didn't see it in the context of "It's the first." 596 00:33:44,482 --> 00:33:47,693 I don't know if I ever saw the official first one. 597 00:33:47,777 --> 00:33:50,362 So maybe I… I didn't get that one at my store. [laughs] 598 00:33:50,446 --> 00:33:52,073 I never saw it out in the market. 599 00:33:52,156 --> 00:33:54,909 Here I am now in my forties. I'm like, "It existed all along?" 600 00:33:54,992 --> 00:33:57,661 It's nice to see that they were creating a replica 601 00:33:57,745 --> 00:34:00,331 of what Black women looked more like at that time, 602 00:34:00,414 --> 00:34:01,874 at least from the neck up. 603 00:34:02,666 --> 00:34:05,878 But I never saw that. So I'm just disappointed I missed out on it. 604 00:34:06,879 --> 00:34:09,799 [Lagueria] You know, on that note came another question. 605 00:34:09,882 --> 00:34:11,509 "Did they market Black Barbie?" 606 00:34:12,426 --> 00:34:14,345 I don't think I ever really saw the commercials. 607 00:34:14,428 --> 00:34:17,139 I must have because I watched Saturday morning cartoons, 608 00:34:17,223 --> 00:34:19,809 but I don't think I really ever saw the commercials. 609 00:34:19,892 --> 00:34:22,853 If you saw a Barbie commercial, it was Barbie was white. 610 00:34:23,687 --> 00:34:28,818 [Patricia] If Black dolls were promoted as the most beautiful and hot commodity, 611 00:34:28,901 --> 00:34:31,821 they would have sold just as well, if not better, 612 00:34:32,321 --> 00:34:33,531 than the white Barbie. 613 00:34:34,115 --> 00:34:36,075 I think I got a knockoff one. 614 00:34:36,158 --> 00:34:38,702 I don't know if my parents got me the… 615 00:34:38,786 --> 00:34:40,996 Because they were hard… They were still hard to get. 616 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:47,378 I think that if Mattel really knew how well it was gonna do, 617 00:34:47,461 --> 00:34:54,301 more, um, effort would have been put into maybe creating 618 00:34:54,385 --> 00:34:59,265 a world of Black dolls rather than just one. 619 00:34:59,348 --> 00:35:01,350 [lively music plays] 620 00:35:19,034 --> 00:35:20,911 ["Control" by Janet Jackson plays] 621 00:35:35,176 --> 00:35:37,970 [Lagueria] Um, I'm kind of low-key loving this story 622 00:35:38,053 --> 00:35:40,514 about my aunt, Kitty, Black Barbie, 623 00:35:40,598 --> 00:35:43,058 and just talking to people about Black dolls. 624 00:35:43,559 --> 00:35:46,437 Okay, so I'm not saying I love dolls now, 625 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,857 but, you know, I'm learning why they're not only important to her, 626 00:35:50,608 --> 00:35:52,109 they're important in general. 627 00:35:53,068 --> 00:35:56,739 And it's got me thinking about little Lagueria 628 00:35:56,822 --> 00:35:59,909 and how she and her sister used to play. 629 00:36:00,451 --> 00:36:04,246 We used to play by putting slips over our head, 630 00:36:04,330 --> 00:36:07,666 pretending it was long, blonde hair. 631 00:36:07,750 --> 00:36:10,294 As kids, we didn't understand what that meant. 632 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:15,007 But now it gives me a lot more to think about when it comes to play 633 00:36:15,090 --> 00:36:16,050 and what it would mean 634 00:36:16,133 --> 00:36:18,761 to have a world of Black Barbies. 635 00:36:22,306 --> 00:36:24,725 -[girls] Ooh! -[woman] Shani is here! 636 00:36:24,808 --> 00:36:27,186 ♪ Shani, Shani You walk, you smile ♪ 637 00:36:27,269 --> 00:36:29,688 ♪ Who, girl? You, girl You got style… ♪ 638 00:36:29,772 --> 00:36:31,232 [woman] Here's Shani and friends. 639 00:36:31,315 --> 00:36:32,316 ♪ So hot ♪ 640 00:36:32,399 --> 00:36:34,944 ♪ We love all the looks you've got ♪ 641 00:36:35,027 --> 00:36:39,865 I also did a Black line of dolls called Shani. 642 00:36:39,949 --> 00:36:44,828 That particular line was as a result of 643 00:36:44,912 --> 00:36:48,123 the success of Black Barbie. 644 00:36:48,207 --> 00:36:52,378 I started collecting Barbie dolls in college. 645 00:36:52,461 --> 00:36:57,007 When I saw Shani, there… That was a new horizon. 646 00:36:57,091 --> 00:37:02,304 Well, they had Asha, who was about your complexion, 647 00:37:02,388 --> 00:37:04,306 and she had keener features. 648 00:37:04,390 --> 00:37:09,436 They had Nichelle, who looks exactly like my Aunt Toosley, my mom's cousin. 649 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:11,563 And she was super dark. 650 00:37:11,647 --> 00:37:15,651 And then they had Shani, who is, like, you know, just a pretty brown girl. 651 00:37:16,568 --> 00:37:17,778 It was revolutionary. 652 00:37:17,861 --> 00:37:20,364 [Kitty] When they released the dolls, 653 00:37:20,447 --> 00:37:22,157 the introduction to that 654 00:37:22,783 --> 00:37:26,370 was a huge production that they did in New York. 655 00:37:26,453 --> 00:37:27,913 ♪ And I wonder ♪ 656 00:37:27,997 --> 00:37:33,168 -♪ Wonder ♪ -♪ Wonder ♪ 657 00:37:33,252 --> 00:37:35,254 ♪ Who's ♪ 658 00:37:35,337 --> 00:37:39,550 ♪ Who's ♪ 659 00:37:40,217 --> 00:37:41,093 ♪ Loving… ♪ 660 00:37:41,176 --> 00:37:44,346 They wanted a doll that… that had several different shades, 661 00:37:44,430 --> 00:37:47,641 as the Afro-American community does. 662 00:37:47,725 --> 00:37:49,977 I remember there was an article in The Village Voice. 663 00:37:50,060 --> 00:37:52,646 They went on for pages and pages about these dolls 664 00:37:52,730 --> 00:37:55,024 and how important this new thing was. 665 00:37:55,107 --> 00:37:58,527 And I saved that article. I have it somewhere in storage. 666 00:37:58,610 --> 00:38:02,906 [woman 13] Shani is going to be our entry into the ethnic marketplace. 667 00:38:02,990 --> 00:38:04,575 It's going to be heavily marketed, 668 00:38:04,658 --> 00:38:05,826 which is also a first 669 00:38:05,909 --> 00:38:07,828 because currently, there isn't 670 00:38:07,911 --> 00:38:10,581 any African American doll line 671 00:38:10,664 --> 00:38:15,169 that receives its own commercial, that receives print ads and support, 672 00:38:15,252 --> 00:38:17,838 that will receive the PR focus 673 00:38:17,921 --> 00:38:19,590 and promotional tie-ins 674 00:38:19,673 --> 00:38:20,883 that we've developed. 675 00:38:22,885 --> 00:38:25,929 My name is Isis McKenzie Johnson. 676 00:38:26,972 --> 00:38:29,892 I initially fell in love with Black Barbie when I was a teenager. 677 00:38:29,975 --> 00:38:33,437 Coming from Watts in South Central LA, there was so much hardship. 678 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,982 You didn't have time to focus on vanity. You just wanna get through the day. 679 00:38:37,066 --> 00:38:40,778 Then when my family finally moved out of the inner city to Rancho Cucamonga, 680 00:38:40,861 --> 00:38:43,864 there wasn't that many people of color that were there. 681 00:38:43,947 --> 00:38:46,658 So I was called "nigger." I was called "chocolate bar." 682 00:38:46,742 --> 00:38:50,079 I was called so many derogatory words and names to describe me 683 00:38:50,162 --> 00:38:51,580 because of the way I looked. 684 00:38:53,499 --> 00:38:54,416 [sighs] 685 00:39:02,132 --> 00:39:02,966 [tuts] 686 00:39:03,050 --> 00:39:05,928 Oh my gosh, I'm totally ruining my makeup. Um… 687 00:39:06,011 --> 00:39:06,887 [sniffles] 688 00:39:07,596 --> 00:39:10,766 And there was nothing I could relate to when I would watch television. 689 00:39:10,849 --> 00:39:12,351 That I could associate myself 690 00:39:12,434 --> 00:39:14,728 and find an escape from the reality 691 00:39:14,812 --> 00:39:17,356 that was beating me up 'cause of the way I look. 692 00:39:17,439 --> 00:39:19,108 Most kids escape to television, 693 00:39:19,191 --> 00:39:22,069 but whenever I watched TV, everyone was still white. 694 00:39:22,152 --> 00:39:24,863 When I finally start seeing a few shows where there were Black people, 695 00:39:24,947 --> 00:39:26,407 they were always poor. 696 00:39:26,490 --> 00:39:27,991 It was always a reminder of 697 00:39:28,075 --> 00:39:30,285 the struggle is always gonna be real for you. 698 00:39:32,287 --> 00:39:34,164 So when Black Barbies finally came on the market, 699 00:39:34,248 --> 00:39:38,210 she represented success, she represented beauty, 700 00:39:38,293 --> 00:39:42,172 and I could see possibility in her for myself. 701 00:39:42,256 --> 00:39:43,715 Those little white girls had… 702 00:39:43,799 --> 00:39:46,468 They could see possibility in their Barbies. 703 00:39:47,678 --> 00:39:50,347 I would look at that Barbie, and I would try to see possibility, 704 00:39:50,431 --> 00:39:53,142 but I'd be reminded through my reality that that's not your possibility 705 00:39:53,225 --> 00:39:54,643 because you're Black. 706 00:39:55,227 --> 00:39:57,229 And, uh, when Black Barbie came out, 707 00:39:57,312 --> 00:40:00,149 I was like, "No, I think it is possible for me." 708 00:40:00,232 --> 00:40:01,108 So I… I don't… 709 00:40:01,191 --> 00:40:04,027 All the haters out there can kick rocks because it did a lot for me. 710 00:40:04,111 --> 00:40:05,696 Black Barbies did a lot for me. 711 00:40:07,739 --> 00:40:12,286 [Kitty] Because I had made a name for myself, I was given a group 712 00:40:12,369 --> 00:40:16,206 so that we could do even more dolls. 713 00:40:17,583 --> 00:40:19,585 My name is Stacey McBride-Irby, 714 00:40:19,668 --> 00:40:21,753 former Barbie designer. 715 00:40:21,837 --> 00:40:25,215 As a little girl, I loved playing with dolls. 716 00:40:25,299 --> 00:40:27,050 Barbie was my favorite. 717 00:40:27,134 --> 00:40:30,512 So that's what made me wanna be a fashion designer. 718 00:40:31,096 --> 00:40:34,641 There was a newspaper article from Los Angeles Times 719 00:40:34,725 --> 00:40:36,560 featuring Kitty Black Perkins. 720 00:40:36,643 --> 00:40:39,146 My dad saved the newspaper article for me 721 00:40:39,229 --> 00:40:42,858 because he wanted to inspire and empower me. 722 00:40:42,941 --> 00:40:48,322 When I got into the garment district or industry in the early '90s, 723 00:40:48,405 --> 00:40:50,741 I didn't see many people that looked like me. 724 00:40:50,824 --> 00:40:53,660 But I didn't really have a plan B. 725 00:40:53,744 --> 00:40:57,414 I brought out that newspaper article of Kitty Black Perkins. 726 00:40:57,498 --> 00:40:58,957 I cold-called her. 727 00:40:59,708 --> 00:41:02,044 -Hey! -Hey! 728 00:41:02,127 --> 00:41:04,296 [Stacey] How you doing? 729 00:41:05,714 --> 00:41:10,636 When I first saw Kitty, she had this white business suit on, 730 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,263 and she had this big curly hair, 731 00:41:13,347 --> 00:41:15,432 and I'm like, "Oh my God, she's like 732 00:41:15,974 --> 00:41:21,313 angel-slash-actress-slash-Barbie." 733 00:41:21,396 --> 00:41:25,859 I know she has a convertible, so her hair can blow in the wind. 734 00:41:25,943 --> 00:41:28,445 I don't know. It was just something about you. 735 00:41:28,529 --> 00:41:31,114 The interview went great. She gave me an assignment. 736 00:41:31,198 --> 00:41:34,618 I had to go home and buy a Barbie doll 737 00:41:34,701 --> 00:41:37,204 and create a fashion for this Barbie doll. 738 00:41:37,704 --> 00:41:44,086 And when we were sitting, talking about what her expectations were, 739 00:41:44,169 --> 00:41:46,630 what her goals were and all of that, 740 00:41:46,713 --> 00:41:49,883 um, Stacey pulls out this folder. 741 00:41:49,967 --> 00:41:51,718 She had all these articles 742 00:41:53,095 --> 00:41:56,515 that she had clipped from the newspaper about me. 743 00:41:56,598 --> 00:41:59,893 She tried to make it look like it just kinda fell out. 744 00:41:59,977 --> 00:42:02,187 -But it did. -Wait, wait. 745 00:42:02,271 --> 00:42:05,816 She deliberately dropped it so that I could see it. 746 00:42:05,899 --> 00:42:08,235 I wanna tell you, that got you the job. 747 00:42:08,318 --> 00:42:11,113 She was very ambitious. 748 00:42:11,738 --> 00:42:15,200 Um, had a lot of great ideas. 749 00:42:15,784 --> 00:42:17,536 And so I just hired her. 750 00:42:21,582 --> 00:42:23,250 [Stacey] So I remember the first time 751 00:42:23,333 --> 00:42:26,003 Kitty took me kind of on a tour, 752 00:42:26,086 --> 00:42:30,966 and I met your aunt Mae, and she was so bubbly. 753 00:42:31,049 --> 00:42:32,342 Kitty introduced me, 754 00:42:32,426 --> 00:42:37,431 so every time I went over to the corporate, uh, building, 755 00:42:37,514 --> 00:42:40,517 she would say, "Hi, Little Kitty." 756 00:42:40,601 --> 00:42:44,104 [laughs] I'll never know if she even knew my name was Stacey. 757 00:42:44,187 --> 00:42:46,982 I became a receptionist in '89, 758 00:42:47,065 --> 00:42:49,067 and I left in '99. 759 00:42:49,151 --> 00:42:52,195 I was able to meet people from all over the world. 760 00:42:52,738 --> 00:42:56,825 The best thing about communicating with people is a smile. 761 00:42:56,908 --> 00:43:02,247 She just had so much energy, and it was nice to see another Black woman 762 00:43:02,873 --> 00:43:06,376 within the corporate building in Mattel. 763 00:43:07,252 --> 00:43:11,715 I learned everything, actually, I needed to know in the toy industry 764 00:43:11,798 --> 00:43:13,967 from Kitty Black Perkins. 765 00:43:14,551 --> 00:43:17,721 [Kitty] I hired her in as a designer. 766 00:43:17,804 --> 00:43:20,182 I hired another Black designer. 767 00:43:20,265 --> 00:43:22,184 His name was Thomas Quinn. 768 00:43:22,267 --> 00:43:26,938 I just mentored them to do their own thing, 769 00:43:27,022 --> 00:43:29,650 and, uh, they were… they were great. 770 00:43:29,733 --> 00:43:32,277 [Stacey] After approximately two years, 771 00:43:32,361 --> 00:43:37,616 I was petitioned to come to one of the other Barbie teams. 772 00:43:37,699 --> 00:43:41,119 It was a little scary, but I was excited. 773 00:43:41,203 --> 00:43:43,038 I felt like I was ready, 774 00:43:43,121 --> 00:43:46,917 but it was just taking me to a whole different world 775 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,419 because now I have to compete on my own. 776 00:43:51,380 --> 00:43:54,966 [Kitty] I retired from Mattel in 2003. 777 00:43:55,050 --> 00:43:56,176 When I left, 778 00:43:56,259 --> 00:43:58,679 Stacey took on a major role, 779 00:43:58,762 --> 00:43:59,888 which was great. 780 00:44:00,597 --> 00:44:04,518 ♪ Don't you know why ♪ 781 00:44:04,601 --> 00:44:07,270 ♪ I wanted to be an AKA ♪ 782 00:44:07,854 --> 00:44:10,565 ♪ An Alpha Kappa Alpha ♪ 783 00:44:11,149 --> 00:44:13,610 ♪ I wanted to be an AKA ♪ 784 00:44:13,694 --> 00:44:15,362 [Stacey] One of my colleagues, 785 00:44:15,445 --> 00:44:20,409 he was like, "Stacey, we have this AKA doll." 786 00:44:20,492 --> 00:44:24,913 Like, you know, "Do you wanna design it? 'Cause I don't know anything about it." 787 00:44:24,996 --> 00:44:28,375 I'm like, "Yes, I would love to!" 788 00:44:29,126 --> 00:44:32,671 [Ashley] Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated was founded in 1908. 789 00:44:33,547 --> 00:44:36,800 So this was a hundred… This was like a centennial doll. 790 00:44:36,883 --> 00:44:38,385 It was like a collector's item. 791 00:44:38,468 --> 00:44:41,555 These are some of the original sketches that I created. 792 00:44:41,638 --> 00:44:44,099 One was called the Contemporary Goddess. 793 00:44:44,182 --> 00:44:46,393 One was the Businesswoman. 794 00:44:46,476 --> 00:44:49,187 And one is… She's going to a Greek gala. 795 00:44:49,271 --> 00:44:51,815 And the AKA sorority, 796 00:44:51,898 --> 00:44:53,900 um, they actually wanted all three, 797 00:44:53,984 --> 00:44:56,695 but we were only able to produce one. 798 00:44:56,778 --> 00:44:58,572 People were looking for it. 799 00:44:58,655 --> 00:45:01,616 I wasn't at Mattel. They were calling me. 800 00:45:01,700 --> 00:45:03,160 It was sold out. 801 00:45:03,243 --> 00:45:04,619 [Lagueria] Do you have the doll? 802 00:45:04,703 --> 00:45:07,831 I do. Just like I have everything that involves Kamala. 803 00:45:07,914 --> 00:45:10,667 It's, like, you have to have it. This is, like, a big… It's a big deal. 804 00:45:11,334 --> 00:45:14,045 [Stacey] This was a doll that I created on my own. 805 00:45:14,129 --> 00:45:18,467 I did research, and it felt good. It meant something to me. 806 00:45:18,550 --> 00:45:25,307 And that's when I really got excited about what could be next. 807 00:45:25,891 --> 00:45:28,101 That's when So In Style was born. 808 00:45:28,894 --> 00:45:32,481 Hi, my name is Sierra, and this is my mom, Stacey. 809 00:45:33,106 --> 00:45:35,108 [Stacey] Sierra actually inspired me 810 00:45:35,192 --> 00:45:37,778 to design this African American line of Barbie dolls 811 00:45:37,861 --> 00:45:41,323 because I wanted to give her dolls that looked like her, 812 00:45:41,406 --> 00:45:42,949 reach girls in my community, 813 00:45:43,033 --> 00:45:45,577 and give them dolls that they could relate to. 814 00:45:45,660 --> 00:45:48,413 My daughter, at the time, was not playing with Barbie, 815 00:45:48,497 --> 00:45:50,916 and I didn't understand it, as a Barbie lover. 816 00:45:51,625 --> 00:45:55,295 How Mattel would work, marketing would tell us an idea, 817 00:45:55,378 --> 00:45:57,255 and we would create from that idea. 818 00:45:57,339 --> 00:45:59,132 And then we'll get from marketing, 819 00:45:59,216 --> 00:46:01,676 "Oh, we need a Black doll as well." 820 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:04,012 So not all of them got Black dolls. 821 00:46:04,095 --> 00:46:08,809 But then the retailers might not choose the African American doll. 822 00:46:08,892 --> 00:46:14,272 I wanted to create a line of dolls that the retailers couldn't say no to. 823 00:46:14,356 --> 00:46:17,400 The big sister would mentor her little sister 824 00:46:17,484 --> 00:46:21,530 into math and music and cheerleading and science 825 00:46:21,613 --> 00:46:23,281 or art and journalism. 826 00:46:23,365 --> 00:46:26,618 So I wanted to have a fun aspect to them, 827 00:46:26,701 --> 00:46:30,080 but I wanted them to be educated as well. 828 00:46:30,664 --> 00:46:32,624 The Mattel African American Forum 829 00:46:32,707 --> 00:46:34,251 kinda helped champion it. 830 00:46:34,334 --> 00:46:37,128 Stephen came out with the logo. 831 00:46:37,212 --> 00:46:41,591 David came out with the "So In Style, S.I.S." 832 00:46:41,675 --> 00:46:45,136 The packaging designer, she and I went shopping 833 00:46:45,220 --> 00:46:48,515 at the Slauson Swap Meet for inspiration. 834 00:46:48,598 --> 00:46:52,435 So it was a whole team of us kinda building this out, 835 00:46:52,519 --> 00:46:54,271 and it… it felt great. 836 00:46:54,354 --> 00:46:56,898 My daughter loved playing with these dolls. 837 00:46:56,982 --> 00:46:59,985 It was nice to see something that I created 838 00:47:00,068 --> 00:47:02,696 making my daughter have so much joy. 839 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,867 It was a very intentional, uh, mission for my mom 840 00:47:06,950 --> 00:47:08,827 to make sure that my sisters and I 841 00:47:08,910 --> 00:47:11,246 saw ourselves in the toys that we played with. 842 00:47:11,329 --> 00:47:15,250 So she only purchased, uh, Black Barbies for us. 843 00:47:15,333 --> 00:47:18,003 It was made very clear to me from very early on 844 00:47:18,086 --> 00:47:21,131 that there were not gonna be any white dolls in our house. 845 00:47:21,214 --> 00:47:25,302 I used to make my own, uh, hijabs, uh, for my dolls, growing up. 846 00:47:25,385 --> 00:47:29,097 Especially if, uh, you know, I was playing with the cars. 847 00:47:29,180 --> 00:47:32,767 I couldn't get in without my hijab on. You don't wanna mess up your hair. 848 00:47:32,851 --> 00:47:34,352 I don't think, for me, they were dolls. 849 00:47:34,436 --> 00:47:37,439 They were representations of who I wanted to be at a certain point. 850 00:47:37,522 --> 00:47:41,985 So, you know, they were doctors, lawyers, flying all over the country. Doing stuff. 851 00:47:42,068 --> 00:47:44,613 I think about what I do now, which is tell stories 852 00:47:44,696 --> 00:47:47,741 about powerful, interesting women living these exciting lives. 853 00:47:47,824 --> 00:47:49,951 I was doing that when I was five. 854 00:47:50,035 --> 00:47:53,830 If Kerry Washington in Scandal is not a Black Barbie, 855 00:47:53,914 --> 00:47:56,291 down to the outfits and the dress-up and the clothes, 856 00:47:56,374 --> 00:47:57,918 I don't know what is, really. 857 00:47:59,210 --> 00:48:01,129 I go by Byronique Barbie. 858 00:48:01,755 --> 00:48:05,717 So I am a self-proclaimed Black Barbie doll myself. 859 00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:08,553 I have it tattooed on my finger, "Barbie doll." 860 00:48:08,637 --> 00:48:12,641 I have a whole wardrobe, um, earrings. 861 00:48:12,724 --> 00:48:16,102 I don't know which is which, but one says my first name, "Byronique." 862 00:48:16,186 --> 00:48:17,145 One says "Barbie." 863 00:48:17,228 --> 00:48:20,607 I do embody being the Black Barbie in my own way 864 00:48:20,690 --> 00:48:23,526 as far as being very adventurous, 865 00:48:23,610 --> 00:48:25,779 having many different career paths. 866 00:48:25,862 --> 00:48:27,614 I've skydived twice. 867 00:48:27,697 --> 00:48:30,700 I've swam with sharks in Hawaii. 868 00:48:30,784 --> 00:48:34,204 Um, jet-skiing. I've parasailed. 869 00:48:34,287 --> 00:48:37,040 For so long, I feel like it was a statistic 870 00:48:37,123 --> 00:48:39,459 where it's just, you know, a white-woman thing 871 00:48:39,542 --> 00:48:41,962 to be adventurous, to do all these exciting different things, 872 00:48:42,045 --> 00:48:43,964 to have all these different lives. 873 00:48:44,047 --> 00:48:47,884 But now, seeing a Black Barbie can do the exact same things, 874 00:48:47,968 --> 00:48:51,596 it's, like, so important to me, and I try to embody that. 875 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:56,059 Being a boss-ass bitch, that comes with a lot of pressure, a lot of stress. 876 00:48:56,142 --> 00:49:01,481 But being able to walk through life, and… and do it, you know, so effortlessly, 877 00:49:01,564 --> 00:49:04,693 and I feel like that's what Barbie… Black Barbie embodies. 878 00:49:04,776 --> 00:49:08,613 Like, being able to handle the pressure, handle the stress, 879 00:49:08,697 --> 00:49:11,783 still keep it cute, keep it classy, keep it together. 880 00:49:11,866 --> 00:49:13,576 Just, you know, do you, 881 00:49:14,244 --> 00:49:17,247 and make every single day count, every moment count. 882 00:49:18,206 --> 00:49:20,000 [Lagueria] So she's really inspiring for you. 883 00:49:20,083 --> 00:49:21,710 She is, she is. 884 00:49:21,793 --> 00:49:24,713 I… I really be going through my day asking myself, 885 00:49:24,796 --> 00:49:27,507 "What would Black Barbie do in this moment?" You know? 886 00:49:27,590 --> 00:49:29,217 Uh… [laughs] 887 00:49:30,969 --> 00:49:32,804 [Stacey] Every year, we would do 888 00:49:32,887 --> 00:49:36,766 the United Negro College Fund event. 889 00:49:36,850 --> 00:49:41,604 They wanted to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Black Barbie. 890 00:49:41,688 --> 00:49:45,608 I did not know Stacey was gonna do the 30th anniversary. 891 00:49:46,109 --> 00:49:51,114 I came back to a celebration and found out that she did it, 892 00:49:51,197 --> 00:49:56,244 and I was elated because she was the best person to do it. 893 00:49:59,122 --> 00:50:02,375 Here is the first Black Barbie 894 00:50:02,459 --> 00:50:06,296 that I designed for the 30th anniversary of Black Barbie. 895 00:50:06,379 --> 00:50:08,882 And this is my rendition of the 1980 doll. 896 00:50:08,965 --> 00:50:10,925 I wanted to jazz her up a bit 897 00:50:11,009 --> 00:50:13,053 because I thought both would be auctioned off. 898 00:50:13,136 --> 00:50:15,764 But they only chose to do the one. 899 00:50:15,847 --> 00:50:19,976 I was inspired by the cutouts of the original jumpsuit. 900 00:50:20,060 --> 00:50:22,395 She's a little… a little more sexy, 901 00:50:22,479 --> 00:50:24,564 you know, so I put a cutout in the front, 902 00:50:24,647 --> 00:50:27,358 and then, instead of a short jumpsuit, 903 00:50:27,442 --> 00:50:31,863 I made a longer jumpsuit and cut out on the pants legs. 904 00:50:31,946 --> 00:50:35,158 And then I added, you know, some rhinestone jewels. 905 00:50:35,241 --> 00:50:39,829 And this is actually my Chandra So In Style Barbie, 906 00:50:39,913 --> 00:50:41,623 which was the darker skin tone. 907 00:50:41,706 --> 00:50:43,708 [feel-good music playing] 908 00:50:51,925 --> 00:50:53,343 [music fades] 909 00:50:55,136 --> 00:50:58,556 [Lagueria] I thought this was gonna be a simple story about stupid dolls, 910 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:02,227 but something about Black Barbie's story hits different. 911 00:51:02,310 --> 00:51:05,897 I'm relating to a doll, y'all. 912 00:51:05,980 --> 00:51:10,819 Like, I feel connected to her, to my aunt, Kitty, and Stacey 913 00:51:10,902 --> 00:51:13,113 in a way that I have no words for. 914 00:51:13,196 --> 00:51:17,117 Hearing this great legacy story of how representation can work 915 00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:20,453 is giving me so much joy right now. 916 00:51:20,537 --> 00:51:22,330 I'm actually excited and curious 917 00:51:22,413 --> 00:51:26,626 to see who's designing the 40th Anniversary Black Barbie in 2020. 918 00:51:26,709 --> 00:51:29,546 [Lagueria] Have you heard anything about them celebrating 919 00:51:29,629 --> 00:51:31,798 Black Barbie's 40th birthday? 920 00:51:31,881 --> 00:51:33,174 Which is… 921 00:51:33,258 --> 00:51:34,759 -Next year. -[Lagueria] Yes. 922 00:51:34,843 --> 00:51:37,595 Yeah, so I have not heard anything 923 00:51:37,679 --> 00:51:42,809 about the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Black Barbie. 924 00:51:42,892 --> 00:51:44,477 Um, it would be great. 925 00:51:46,062 --> 00:51:49,482 Give me a call. I'd love to celebrate with you guys. 926 00:51:51,151 --> 00:51:53,069 [Lagueria] Would the legacy continue? 927 00:51:55,655 --> 00:51:56,781 I guess… 928 00:51:58,366 --> 00:51:59,200 not. 929 00:52:00,952 --> 00:52:05,415 Bill is the… the kind of person that grew up with Barbie. 930 00:52:05,498 --> 00:52:08,710 He just kinda made Barbie his career. 931 00:52:08,793 --> 00:52:12,714 I… I think I probably worked with him about ten years. 932 00:52:12,797 --> 00:52:14,465 My name is Bill Greening. 933 00:52:14,549 --> 00:52:18,428 I'm a principal designer on the Barbie Signature line. 934 00:52:18,511 --> 00:52:21,306 I've worked for Mattel for 25 years. 935 00:52:21,389 --> 00:52:24,142 I played with Barbie as a child. 936 00:52:24,225 --> 00:52:26,561 Um, a lot of the dolls I played with were Kitty's. 937 00:52:26,644 --> 00:52:29,147 I played Barbies with my cousin all the time, 938 00:52:29,230 --> 00:52:31,608 and I remember playing with a lot of Kitty's designs. 939 00:52:31,691 --> 00:52:34,485 We played with Pretty Changes. We played with Black Barbie. 940 00:52:34,569 --> 00:52:36,571 We played with Pink and Pretty. 941 00:52:36,654 --> 00:52:39,365 So when I think about my childhood relationship with Barbie, 942 00:52:39,449 --> 00:52:41,451 Kitty is a big part of that. 943 00:52:41,534 --> 00:52:44,996 I was really thinking of her original doll, 944 00:52:45,079 --> 00:52:49,083 um, and how we could keep the elements that Kitty liked. 945 00:52:49,167 --> 00:52:52,003 I really tried my best, I think, to try to link it up 946 00:52:52,086 --> 00:52:55,798 but kind of just give it a little modern twist, I guess you could say. 947 00:52:55,882 --> 00:52:57,926 -And you did a fabulous job. -Thanks, Kitty. 948 00:52:58,009 --> 00:53:00,929 And it means… When Kitty blessed it, I was like… 949 00:53:01,012 --> 00:53:03,848 -[both laugh] -That was the best compliment ever. 950 00:53:03,932 --> 00:53:06,809 Yeah. I really wanted to honor Kitty's legacy with this doll. 951 00:53:07,310 --> 00:53:09,604 And I will also say, too, 952 00:53:09,687 --> 00:53:14,859 the designer, um, aspect of it, 953 00:53:14,943 --> 00:53:21,407 it's hard to find designers that are targeting dolls. 954 00:53:21,491 --> 00:53:22,659 [Bill] As far as designers, 955 00:53:22,742 --> 00:53:25,453 we currently do not have a Black designer on the team. 956 00:53:25,536 --> 00:53:28,581 I know that is very important for leadership. 957 00:53:28,665 --> 00:53:31,334 And this is an opportunity 958 00:53:32,335 --> 00:53:35,463 for a lot of little Black girls, 959 00:53:36,381 --> 00:53:37,966 little Black boys, 960 00:53:38,508 --> 00:53:41,678 to really focus 961 00:53:42,262 --> 00:53:47,100 on replicating, uh, the Black Barbie. 962 00:53:47,183 --> 00:53:51,562 Um, I am hopeful, you know, like, we have a future Kitty, 963 00:53:51,646 --> 00:53:55,775 a future Stacey, another Stephen, like, coming in to really make an impact. 964 00:53:55,858 --> 00:53:57,151 One of the interesting things 965 00:53:57,235 --> 00:53:58,361 about Black dolls 966 00:53:58,444 --> 00:54:00,780 is that, uh, when they are made 967 00:54:00,863 --> 00:54:02,365 by Black people, 968 00:54:02,448 --> 00:54:05,243 there is so much versatility. 969 00:54:05,326 --> 00:54:08,997 There's so many different ideas that come out. 970 00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:10,415 So many looks. 971 00:54:10,498 --> 00:54:16,004 So many ways by which they, um, you know, create for their dolls. 972 00:54:16,087 --> 00:54:17,588 It's very interesting 973 00:54:17,672 --> 00:54:22,093 because, uh, you don't find, you know, like, cookie-cutter dolls. 974 00:54:22,176 --> 00:54:26,389 Uh, you find dolls that have a lot of thought and a lot of creativity. 975 00:54:26,472 --> 00:54:27,890 My name is Mason Williams. 976 00:54:27,974 --> 00:54:30,435 I'm the senior director, global lead, 977 00:54:30,518 --> 00:54:33,146 of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Mattel. 978 00:54:33,229 --> 00:54:36,316 Been in the toy industry, game industry for about 25 years now. 979 00:54:36,399 --> 00:54:39,277 I talk about Barbie with extreme pride. 980 00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:41,279 I love the fact that there was foibles 981 00:54:41,362 --> 00:54:43,281 and the fact that there needed to be called out 982 00:54:43,364 --> 00:54:44,699 that we needed to be more diverse. 983 00:54:44,782 --> 00:54:48,161 We needed to think about body image. We need to think about all that stuff. 984 00:54:49,412 --> 00:54:52,832 In Mattel's design departments, we have a few Black designers, 985 00:54:53,416 --> 00:54:55,835 but it's not much more than you would have thought 986 00:54:55,918 --> 00:54:57,420 when it was… when Kitty was there. 987 00:54:58,046 --> 00:54:59,589 While companies have grown, 988 00:54:59,672 --> 00:55:02,133 we've not grown exponentially in our numbers. 989 00:55:02,216 --> 00:55:04,677 Our numbers have grown, like, one over one. 990 00:55:05,470 --> 00:55:09,557 Let's look at what the current constituents of the design departments 991 00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:12,560 across the toy industry, first and foremost, okay? 992 00:55:12,643 --> 00:55:14,687 Black people are the most underrepresented. 993 00:55:14,771 --> 00:55:17,440 I don't think that that would be a surprise to anyone. 994 00:55:17,523 --> 00:55:22,362 Because you don't know what… you can be something 995 00:55:22,445 --> 00:55:23,946 if you've never seen it. 996 00:55:24,030 --> 00:55:28,618 I go to career days. I've been going for, I don't know, 20 years, right? 997 00:55:28,701 --> 00:55:32,747 And… and when I go… I put, "Mason, toy maker." 998 00:55:33,581 --> 00:55:37,085 And I have always put that. I still do, even as what I do now. 999 00:55:37,168 --> 00:55:40,338 Because I believe in, like, showing 1000 00:55:40,421 --> 00:55:43,174 that there are cats out there who are doing this. 1001 00:55:43,257 --> 00:55:46,803 We need to think about getting folks involved earlier. 1002 00:55:47,553 --> 00:55:51,349 High-school level. Partner with HBCUs a lot more. 1003 00:55:51,432 --> 00:55:55,436 Open up the… the ways that we're seeing the… the skill sets, 1004 00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:57,105 the education requirements. 1005 00:55:57,188 --> 00:55:59,857 Really investing in a pipeline of talent. 1006 00:55:59,941 --> 00:56:04,153 Now, again, it takes the moment to say, like, "Let's go do this." 1007 00:56:04,237 --> 00:56:06,280 And so that's the important piece. 1008 00:56:06,364 --> 00:56:08,991 And for too long, those conversations stalled out. 1009 00:56:09,075 --> 00:56:10,743 I am Tasja Kirkwood. 1010 00:56:10,827 --> 00:56:13,663 I am the head of Global Consumer Insights here at Mattel. 1011 00:56:13,746 --> 00:56:16,332 You know, I… I… I… talk to kids all day. 1012 00:56:16,416 --> 00:56:20,378 Um, a lot of what I do fuels the design and development process, 1013 00:56:20,461 --> 00:56:23,965 and I think that's really important when it comes to this topic specifically. 1014 00:56:24,048 --> 00:56:26,259 I do think the pipeline is super important. 1015 00:56:26,342 --> 00:56:27,927 I think it's about diversity, 1016 00:56:28,010 --> 00:56:30,179 but it's also about diversity of thought, right? 1017 00:56:30,263 --> 00:56:32,557 We all think differently. We have different experiences. 1018 00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:35,601 So infusing that diversity of thought into everything we do, 1019 00:56:35,685 --> 00:56:39,272 from design and development to marketing to strategy, whatever it is, 1020 00:56:39,355 --> 00:56:40,565 it's extremely important. 1021 00:56:40,648 --> 00:56:43,484 We just have to amplify what these jobs actually are 1022 00:56:43,568 --> 00:56:47,029 and what the possibility of impact actually is. 1023 00:56:47,113 --> 00:56:50,533 And I think that that's the thing, right? That's… that's what Black Barbie did. 1024 00:56:50,616 --> 00:56:52,243 She showed there were career possibilities, 1025 00:56:52,326 --> 00:56:55,455 and we just have to continue to amplify that ourselves as well. 1026 00:56:57,206 --> 00:56:59,792 [Lagueria] Yes, let's do this. 1027 00:56:59,876 --> 00:57:03,296 Let's jump-start those stalled conversations. 1028 00:57:03,379 --> 00:57:06,424 I mean, all of this started with a question 1029 00:57:06,507 --> 00:57:09,218 from a conversation between me and my aunt. 1030 00:57:09,302 --> 00:57:11,012 Now look how far we've come. 1031 00:57:11,095 --> 00:57:13,014 From one Black Barbie 1032 00:57:13,097 --> 00:57:15,725 to a world of Black Barbies 1033 00:57:15,808 --> 00:57:19,020 to more Black women becoming Barbies. 1034 00:57:19,103 --> 00:57:22,190 I am here for all of this. Yes. 1035 00:57:22,273 --> 00:57:28,070 So I remember when I got the message that Mattel had called and said, 1036 00:57:28,154 --> 00:57:31,324 "We'd like to make Shonda a Barbie. Would she like to be made into a Barbie?" 1037 00:57:31,407 --> 00:57:34,035 I was like, "Absolutely." That was so exciting to me. 1038 00:57:34,577 --> 00:57:35,912 It felt magical. 1039 00:57:35,995 --> 00:57:39,874 To be in a moment where, you know, you get the call, 1040 00:57:39,957 --> 00:57:41,876 and they're gonna make a Barbie in your likeness. 1041 00:57:41,959 --> 00:57:43,544 I just thought it was so exciting. 1042 00:57:43,628 --> 00:57:48,299 It was like, "Wow, I can be a part of this thing that is, um, iconic to me 1043 00:57:48,382 --> 00:57:52,428 in a different way because Black women are a part of it now." 1044 00:57:52,512 --> 00:57:57,934 So this is my Barbie. I cried big tears when I first saw her. 1045 00:57:58,017 --> 00:58:02,146 I love this doll. This is my doll, um, the Shonda doll. 1046 00:58:02,230 --> 00:58:04,774 I call her Glamour Shonda because she's all dressed up. 1047 00:58:05,274 --> 00:58:07,485 So this is my second Barbie doll. 1048 00:58:08,069 --> 00:58:11,155 This one, um, was the ballerina princess 1049 00:58:11,239 --> 00:58:14,992 that I played in, um, Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. 1050 00:58:15,076 --> 00:58:18,329 I was completely a part of the process. 1051 00:58:18,412 --> 00:58:23,834 Shondaland has an amazing sort of head of design, 1052 00:58:23,918 --> 00:58:25,586 and so… Sandie Bailey. 1053 00:58:25,670 --> 00:58:29,549 So Sandie came in and really had those conversations with Mattel 1054 00:58:29,632 --> 00:58:31,342 about what the doll should look like. 1055 00:58:31,425 --> 00:58:34,845 I would get things from her, and I would say, "My butt's too small." 1056 00:58:34,929 --> 00:58:37,682 And she'd go back and find a lovely way to talk about that. 1057 00:58:37,765 --> 00:58:39,642 The first thing that we did 1058 00:58:39,725 --> 00:58:41,852 was send them reference photos. 1059 00:58:41,936 --> 00:58:43,771 So Shonda and I worked to pull 1060 00:58:43,854 --> 00:58:46,232 maybe five to eight photos 1061 00:58:46,315 --> 00:58:51,070 that she really felt had the right hair, the right face and makeup, 1062 00:58:51,153 --> 00:58:54,824 in that time period that she wanted the doll to look like. 1063 00:58:54,907 --> 00:58:58,160 I wanted to make sure that if, you know, people were seeing this, 1064 00:58:58,244 --> 00:59:00,371 it was a representation of me as I am. 1065 00:59:00,454 --> 00:59:04,166 Not some perfect, you know, like, sanitized version. 1066 00:59:04,250 --> 00:59:06,919 I made sure that her waist was thick, you know? 1067 00:59:07,003 --> 00:59:09,839 And I made sure that, you know, she had a chest like I had. 1068 00:59:09,922 --> 00:59:13,509 One has a more… a little bit more of an hourglass shape, 1069 00:59:14,302 --> 00:59:17,346 um, and their butts are definitely different. 1070 00:59:17,430 --> 00:59:18,848 We ended up going with this one. 1071 00:59:18,931 --> 00:59:20,725 She's really gonna represent me. 1072 00:59:20,808 --> 00:59:23,936 And I remember, in the last iteration of the doll, she… 1073 00:59:24,020 --> 00:59:25,438 Her bust was not big enough. 1074 00:59:25,521 --> 00:59:28,316 They were like, "It's too late, Misty." I was like, "Well, pad that bra." 1075 00:59:28,399 --> 00:59:30,359 So we padded her bra. [laughs] 1076 00:59:30,443 --> 00:59:35,406 [Ibtihaj] You know, I was told as a kid that I had big legs, right? 1077 00:59:35,489 --> 00:59:38,409 And I feel like these legs helped me win an Olympic medal, 1078 00:59:38,492 --> 00:59:42,788 so I want my Barbie doll's legs to be really strong and to be athletic. 1079 00:59:42,872 --> 00:59:46,375 I'm going to be a second Barbie, which is amazing. 1080 00:59:46,459 --> 00:59:48,294 To have them come back and say, 1081 00:59:48,377 --> 00:59:52,089 "We want you to do another one more representative of the work you do." 1082 00:59:52,173 --> 00:59:54,675 I wanted her to look more professional. 1083 00:59:54,759 --> 00:59:57,970 I think the second Barbie was a great opportunity 1084 00:59:58,054 --> 01:00:03,476 for young girls to see, you know, a writer, 1085 01:00:03,559 --> 01:00:07,563 a woman of color in a position like that. 1086 01:00:07,647 --> 01:00:08,981 I've always said, you know, 1087 01:00:09,065 --> 01:00:12,401 you really have to be able to have the power to dream something. 1088 01:00:12,485 --> 01:00:15,112 You don't have that power to dream it if you've never seen it before. 1089 01:00:17,365 --> 01:00:21,786 [Monica] So the dolls that I buy for my daughters are all Black dolls. 1090 01:00:22,286 --> 01:00:26,499 I even try to buy dolls that have hair textures like them 1091 01:00:26,582 --> 01:00:29,210 so they can kind of relate more. 1092 01:00:29,293 --> 01:00:32,296 Now it's, like, normal. Like, "Oh yeah. Of course she has locs." 1093 01:00:32,380 --> 01:00:35,508 "Of course she has an Afro." Like, "Why wouldn't she?" 1094 01:00:35,591 --> 01:00:38,844 [Byronique] We have Barbie doll in a wheelchair. That's… that's great. 1095 01:00:38,928 --> 01:00:41,722 All those things are so necessary. 1096 01:00:41,806 --> 01:00:43,849 So necessary in the world we live in today. 1097 01:00:43,933 --> 01:00:46,477 I have a daughter. She's still young. She's seven. 1098 01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:50,981 The imaginative play is about the world, and it's about creating a community. 1099 01:00:51,065 --> 01:00:52,441 So she has more dolls, 1100 01:00:52,525 --> 01:00:54,110 and they are a variety of color. 1101 01:00:54,193 --> 01:00:56,987 'Cause I want her to know that, in addition to yourself, 1102 01:00:57,071 --> 01:00:59,365 there are many different people in the world 1103 01:00:59,448 --> 01:01:02,034 with different languages and different ideas 1104 01:01:02,118 --> 01:01:03,786 and different perspectives. 1105 01:01:04,286 --> 01:01:07,164 In so many ways, it can change the world. 1106 01:01:07,248 --> 01:01:11,085 I mean, that sounds, like, intense and so large, 1107 01:01:11,168 --> 01:01:12,420 but it… but it's true. 1108 01:01:12,503 --> 01:01:16,632 Even from a young age, children can learn about inclusiveness. 1109 01:01:16,716 --> 01:01:18,134 They can learn about diversity. 1110 01:01:18,217 --> 01:01:21,178 They can learn about different textures of hair and melanin 1111 01:01:21,262 --> 01:01:22,555 and all these things that, 1112 01:01:22,638 --> 01:01:27,184 if you're just looking at dolls and Barbies that look just like you, 1113 01:01:27,268 --> 01:01:30,146 your mind isn't gonna be able to open itself up to that. 1114 01:01:30,229 --> 01:01:33,566 Whenever I know a white person that's having a child, 1115 01:01:33,649 --> 01:01:36,402 they know… [laughs] 1116 01:01:36,485 --> 01:01:38,904 …that the gift I'm giving them is a Black doll, 1117 01:01:38,988 --> 01:01:40,364 a book with Black kids in it. 1118 01:01:40,448 --> 01:01:42,366 Same with my Black friends that have kids. 1119 01:01:42,450 --> 01:01:45,286 So far, all the feedback has been positive. 1120 01:01:45,369 --> 01:01:47,955 No one has ever been like, "Why did you give me this Black doll?" 1121 01:01:48,038 --> 01:01:49,081 Kids just love it. 1122 01:01:49,165 --> 01:01:51,167 [intriguing music playing] 1123 01:01:51,834 --> 01:01:54,420 [Lagueria] But how far do we still have to go? 1124 01:01:54,962 --> 01:01:58,716 I mean, Barbies are more inclusive now, 1125 01:01:58,799 --> 01:02:01,427 so I would like to think that little Lagueria 1126 01:02:01,510 --> 01:02:04,388 would have liked playing with these Barbies. 1127 01:02:05,598 --> 01:02:07,433 But I still wondered, 1128 01:02:07,516 --> 01:02:10,561 how much has actually changed? 1129 01:02:10,644 --> 01:02:12,605 My name is Amirah Saafir. 1130 01:02:12,688 --> 01:02:15,775 Um, I am a professor at Cal State Fullerton 1131 01:02:15,858 --> 01:02:17,735 in the Child & Adolescent Studies department, 1132 01:02:17,818 --> 01:02:20,613 and I'm really interested in how contextual factors, 1133 01:02:20,696 --> 01:02:22,698 especially school contextual factors, 1134 01:02:22,782 --> 01:02:25,159 impact how Black kids feel about their Blackness. 1135 01:02:25,242 --> 01:02:28,329 So the idea was really just to hear from kids 1136 01:02:28,412 --> 01:02:31,290 and to show them Barbies as they appear today 1137 01:02:31,373 --> 01:02:33,292 and to hear how they're perceiving them. 1138 01:02:33,375 --> 01:02:36,754 The inspiration from it was the doll test by Clark and Clark, 1139 01:02:36,837 --> 01:02:40,674 and so I'd say it was inspired by that but not modeled after it. 1140 01:02:40,758 --> 01:02:42,426 We wanted to be intentional about 1141 01:02:42,510 --> 01:02:45,387 not centering the conversation on Black versus white 1142 01:02:45,471 --> 01:02:48,098 but rather all the shades and shapes and sizes 1143 01:02:48,182 --> 01:02:49,391 that Barbies can come in. 1144 01:02:49,892 --> 01:02:52,728 And then the last piece was this conversation with experts, 1145 01:02:52,812 --> 01:02:54,313 where we have researchers, 1146 01:02:54,396 --> 01:02:56,982 people who specialize in a variety of different things, 1147 01:02:57,066 --> 01:03:01,654 to really get this kind of rounded perspective on what all of this means. 1148 01:03:01,737 --> 01:03:02,988 [woman 14] You ready? 1149 01:03:03,072 --> 01:03:07,743 [kids] ♪ Ooh, see you at the finish line ♪ 1150 01:03:09,245 --> 01:03:11,539 [woman 14] Tell me which one is the prettiest one to you. 1151 01:03:11,622 --> 01:03:13,582 -The prettiest one to me… -[woman 14] Mm-hmm. 1152 01:03:13,666 --> 01:03:16,544 …I think is, 1153 01:03:17,586 --> 01:03:19,380 um, Brooklyn. 1154 01:03:19,463 --> 01:03:21,423 -Brooklyn's the prettiest? -Yeah. 1155 01:03:21,507 --> 01:03:25,052 -Why do you think she's the prettiest? -Because she has Black skin like us. 1156 01:03:25,135 --> 01:03:27,346 [Yeshiva] Oh, she does have Black skin like all of us. 1157 01:03:27,429 --> 01:03:29,139 That's true. That's very true. 1158 01:03:29,223 --> 01:03:32,309 And she also has the unique ability to play the guitar. 1159 01:03:32,393 --> 01:03:37,481 Which one do you think is the prettiest? 1160 01:03:38,232 --> 01:03:39,233 This one's the prettiest. 1161 01:03:39,316 --> 01:03:41,235 What makes this Barbie so beautiful? 1162 01:03:42,027 --> 01:03:44,780 -[boy] Because of her dress. -[Yeshiva] You like her dress? 1163 01:03:44,864 --> 01:03:48,659 Mm-hmm. Is there anything else about her that makes her beautiful? 1164 01:03:48,742 --> 01:03:50,244 -Her shoes. -[Yeshiva] Her shoes. 1165 01:03:50,327 --> 01:03:52,580 -Because I love her outfit. -[Yeshiva] Mm-hmm. 1166 01:03:52,663 --> 01:03:55,332 -And I love her hairstyle. -[Yeshiva] And you love her hairstyle too. 1167 01:03:55,416 --> 01:03:58,252 -I like her shirt and her purse. -[Yeshiva] Mm-hmm. 1168 01:03:58,335 --> 01:04:01,380 These beautiful shoes and her hair. 1169 01:04:01,463 --> 01:04:04,550 When they're talking about the Barbies and talking about their favorite Barbie, 1170 01:04:04,633 --> 01:04:07,094 a lot of them talk about the dresses that they have on 1171 01:04:07,177 --> 01:04:08,637 or the shoes that they have on, 1172 01:04:08,721 --> 01:04:10,931 and less about their skin tone. 1173 01:04:11,015 --> 01:04:14,393 So I guess I wanna kind of get you all's take on that. 1174 01:04:14,476 --> 01:04:16,478 And how you… what you think that means, 1175 01:04:16,562 --> 01:04:19,523 the way that they're thinking about race, for the salience of race. 1176 01:04:19,607 --> 01:04:23,402 Or how… if… if race is on the forefront of their mind, as kids. 1177 01:04:23,485 --> 01:04:25,654 Well, I work at a public elementary school, 1178 01:04:25,738 --> 01:04:32,703 um, and when they talk about anything remotely related to race, 1179 01:04:32,786 --> 01:04:34,246 they don't use the word "race." 1180 01:04:34,330 --> 01:04:36,749 -That's right. -I don't ever hear that word being… 1181 01:04:36,832 --> 01:04:39,793 I've never really seen it in the curriculum. 1182 01:04:39,877 --> 01:04:43,130 It's more like "ethnicity," "culture." 1183 01:04:43,213 --> 01:04:45,424 So those… And, like, watching the clips, 1184 01:04:45,507 --> 01:04:48,636 they would say words like "culture," "ethnicity," uh, "religion." 1185 01:04:48,719 --> 01:04:50,179 Things that make people unique. 1186 01:04:50,262 --> 01:04:55,184 Have you guys heard of something called race? 1187 01:04:55,768 --> 01:04:57,227 -No. -No? 1188 01:04:57,311 --> 01:04:58,854 -No. -What do you mean by "race"? 1189 01:04:58,938 --> 01:05:00,356 That's such a good question. 1190 01:05:00,439 --> 01:05:06,362 When I think of race, is… Wait. One of the Barbies that liked to race. 1191 01:05:06,445 --> 01:05:08,489 Oh, like a running race? Yep. 1192 01:05:08,572 --> 01:05:12,534 When you talk to your mom and dad and your family about race, 1193 01:05:13,285 --> 01:05:14,703 what words do they tell you? 1194 01:05:16,956 --> 01:05:20,000 -Mm-hmm. -"Do not judge a book by its cover." 1195 01:05:20,084 --> 01:05:23,587 Oh. So what does that mean, "Do not judge a book by its cover"? 1196 01:05:23,671 --> 01:05:27,341 Like a… Like a Karen that's making fun of you. 1197 01:05:27,841 --> 01:05:30,177 If I say the word "race…" 1198 01:05:32,596 --> 01:05:34,181 what comes to mind for you? 1199 01:05:34,264 --> 01:05:36,725 -Racism. -Racism comes to mind? 1200 01:05:36,809 --> 01:05:37,935 What's racism? 1201 01:05:39,186 --> 01:05:45,275 Um, when people judge you for, um, the color of your skin 1202 01:05:45,359 --> 01:05:47,611 and how you look and your culture. 1203 01:05:47,695 --> 01:05:49,989 They don't necessarily know the word "race." 1204 01:05:50,072 --> 01:05:52,241 -But "racism" popped out really quickly. -Right. 1205 01:05:52,324 --> 01:05:57,037 What does your family and your mom and dad tell you about being a Black person? 1206 01:05:58,330 --> 01:06:03,627 To be brave and always think you're a beautiful Black queen. 1207 01:06:03,711 --> 01:06:04,670 Ah. 1208 01:06:04,753 --> 01:06:07,881 My mom says I should be proud of my Black skin, 1209 01:06:07,965 --> 01:06:10,676 and if anyone else who doesn't have Black skin 1210 01:06:10,759 --> 01:06:12,511 asks, "What's Black girl magic?" 1211 01:06:12,594 --> 01:06:15,556 I'm gonna say, "Oh, it's not something you would understand." 1212 01:06:15,639 --> 01:06:17,474 They say it's just, like, 1213 01:06:18,642 --> 01:06:22,271 okay to be you even if you look different in the world. 1214 01:06:22,354 --> 01:06:23,355 Mmm. Mm-hmm. 1215 01:06:23,439 --> 01:06:26,066 'Cause you're still human like everyone else. 1216 01:06:26,650 --> 01:06:30,487 They say that it's not okay for cops to be mean to us 1217 01:06:30,571 --> 01:06:35,451 and… and put us on the ground because we didn't do anything. 1218 01:06:35,534 --> 01:06:38,746 Even though they weren't using the terminology we understand as adults, 1219 01:06:38,829 --> 01:06:40,748 they were telling us that they knew about race. 1220 01:06:40,831 --> 01:06:44,877 Someone was like, "Oh, Black Lives Matter. Black girls… Black girl magic." 1221 01:06:44,960 --> 01:06:47,087 So they're telling you, "I do know about race." 1222 01:06:47,171 --> 01:06:50,758 But we do need to focus on more giving them the language to talk about it. 1223 01:06:50,841 --> 01:06:52,843 [Yeshiva] It's the language, what they're being told 1224 01:06:52,926 --> 01:06:54,678 and what they're hearing in some spaces, 1225 01:06:54,762 --> 01:06:57,139 but it's not necessarily how they're living 1226 01:06:57,222 --> 01:06:59,016 and how they see other people living. 1227 01:06:59,099 --> 01:07:02,728 Because if everyone's the same and skin color doesn't matter, 1228 01:07:02,811 --> 01:07:06,356 then why are Black men being killed in the street by cops? 1229 01:07:06,440 --> 01:07:09,526 What is the role of Barbie in helping kids understand this? 1230 01:07:09,610 --> 01:07:12,362 Should it be Barbie or Mattel's responsibility 1231 01:07:12,446 --> 01:07:14,948 to be more intentional in what they're doing 1232 01:07:15,032 --> 01:07:17,034 to help kids make these distinctions as well? 1233 01:07:17,117 --> 01:07:18,744 -Yes. -You think so? 1234 01:07:18,827 --> 01:07:22,372 Because I think it's society as a whole's responsibility. 1235 01:07:22,456 --> 01:07:25,584 And I think there are a lot of ways that, um, 1236 01:07:25,667 --> 01:07:27,669 that Mattel can 1237 01:07:29,004 --> 01:07:32,716 make it more obvious about what race 1238 01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:35,719 or what ethnicity and what culture that a Barbie is. 1239 01:07:35,803 --> 01:07:40,265 Is there, like, a team, like, on Mattel that, like, focuses on the different… 1240 01:07:40,349 --> 01:07:42,142 What difference means and what that looks like? 1241 01:07:42,226 --> 01:07:45,187 I think that would be interesting. I think that is really… 1242 01:07:45,270 --> 01:07:48,524 If we're really thinking about change, it just can't be one person. 1243 01:07:48,607 --> 01:07:50,943 It has to be a team. It has to be very intentional. 1244 01:07:51,026 --> 01:07:54,196 -[Yeshiva] Yeah. -It has to be the right team. 1245 01:07:54,279 --> 01:07:58,951 Which one of these Barbies look like you? 1246 01:07:59,034 --> 01:08:02,079 -You would say this Barbie looks like you? -[girl] Yes. 1247 01:08:02,162 --> 01:08:05,290 Uh, I think this one looks a little bit like me 1248 01:08:05,374 --> 01:08:08,544 'cause she has, like, brown hair and, like, brown eyes. 1249 01:08:08,627 --> 01:08:10,129 Why do these two Barbies look like you? 1250 01:08:10,212 --> 01:08:14,800 Because sometimes, when I like to do my hair, I tend to put it in the back. 1251 01:08:14,883 --> 01:08:18,512 -She's pretty, and she has locs like me. -[Yeshiva] Oh, right. 1252 01:08:18,595 --> 01:08:20,222 Anything else that makes her like your mom? 1253 01:08:20,305 --> 01:08:21,598 -Yeah. -What else? 1254 01:08:21,682 --> 01:08:24,852 She wears wigs. It looks like she's actually wearing a wig. 1255 01:08:24,935 --> 01:08:25,769 [Yeshiva] Ah. 1256 01:08:25,853 --> 01:08:28,438 None of these Barbies really look like me. 1257 01:08:28,522 --> 01:08:30,357 Me either, actually. 1258 01:08:30,440 --> 01:08:32,276 What is the parents' responsibility? 1259 01:08:32,359 --> 01:08:35,445 What is our responsibility beyond just giving them the exposure? 1260 01:08:35,529 --> 01:08:39,241 At the end of the day, I say that Barbie is not gonna do anything 1261 01:08:39,324 --> 01:08:41,326 that you have not done, right? 1262 01:08:42,077 --> 01:08:46,248 Um, and that's on the parent end as well as Mattel's end. 1263 01:08:46,331 --> 01:08:49,168 So I don't wanna place onto Barbie 1264 01:08:49,251 --> 01:08:54,548 the work that… which we should be doing as a… as a society 1265 01:08:54,631 --> 01:08:56,592 to dismantle. 1266 01:08:56,675 --> 01:08:58,969 To me, the ultimate end work 1267 01:08:59,052 --> 01:09:03,307 of authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion 1268 01:09:03,390 --> 01:09:08,312 is to disrupt the violent institutions, the violent structures, 1269 01:09:08,395 --> 01:09:11,023 the violent dolls, doll-like worlds 1270 01:09:11,106 --> 01:09:15,527 that exist because of the long legacy of colonialism. 1271 01:09:15,611 --> 01:09:20,449 And until we are doing that work, then we just playing with ourselves. 1272 01:09:20,532 --> 01:09:22,784 My daughter's five years old, and she's… 1273 01:09:22,868 --> 01:09:27,289 Right now, she's a princess ninja who wants to, you know, slay cantaloupes. 1274 01:09:27,372 --> 01:09:30,834 She has a good amount of Barbies, and the thing that I'm proud about 1275 01:09:30,918 --> 01:09:34,171 is that she sees her Barbies as all the same. 1276 01:09:34,254 --> 01:09:38,467 So, you know, we got the full diaspora of colors, 1277 01:09:38,550 --> 01:09:41,470 skin tones, hairstyles, body shapes, you know. 1278 01:09:41,553 --> 01:09:42,971 That's… I'm proud of that. 1279 01:09:43,055 --> 01:09:45,474 And I think that when I see her play with her friends, 1280 01:09:45,557 --> 01:09:49,978 you really start to see the fact that kids gravitate to the play, 1281 01:09:50,062 --> 01:09:52,272 not to what they're playing with specifically. 1282 01:09:52,356 --> 01:09:56,777 I would bet that if you asked… If you grabbed 30 kids right now, 1283 01:09:56,860 --> 01:09:58,862 and they said, "What does Barbie look like?" 1284 01:09:58,946 --> 01:10:00,739 you might get 26 different answers. 1285 01:10:00,822 --> 01:10:04,117 Which one would you say is the real Barbie? 1286 01:10:05,702 --> 01:10:07,204 This one's the real Barbie? 1287 01:10:08,997 --> 01:10:09,957 This one. 1288 01:10:10,040 --> 01:10:11,708 What makes this one the real Barbie? 1289 01:10:11,792 --> 01:10:13,126 Because of her skin. 1290 01:10:13,210 --> 01:10:16,338 -Because her hair is blonde. -[Yeshiva] Because her hair is blonde? 1291 01:10:16,421 --> 01:10:20,342 That one's the real Barbie, and then that one, they made after 1292 01:10:20,425 --> 01:10:23,595 so the Barbies can look like some Black girls, 1293 01:10:23,679 --> 01:10:26,390 and they don't have to play with white Barbies all the time. 1294 01:10:26,473 --> 01:10:27,766 I do a lot of research, 1295 01:10:27,849 --> 01:10:30,185 and I watch a lot of toy shows and how they make it, 1296 01:10:30,269 --> 01:10:32,813 and, like, that was the first Barbie to ever come out. 1297 01:10:32,896 --> 01:10:35,983 When you go to stores, you see that they're… 1298 01:10:36,066 --> 01:10:38,568 -They're, like, the first Barbies you see. -[Yeshiva] Mmm. 1299 01:10:38,652 --> 01:10:40,237 And on commercials too. 1300 01:10:40,320 --> 01:10:43,365 "Who is the Barbie?" essentially, was one of the questions, 1301 01:10:43,448 --> 01:10:47,369 and they always pulled up Miss Malibu, right? 1302 01:10:47,452 --> 01:10:51,206 And what that suggested to me is 1303 01:10:51,290 --> 01:10:53,917 Malibu is centered, 1304 01:10:54,001 --> 01:10:56,503 and everybody plays out in proximity to her, 1305 01:10:56,586 --> 01:10:58,672 and that is the standard of the world. 1306 01:10:58,755 --> 01:11:01,216 Classic Barbie, Malibu Barbie, regular Barbie. 1307 01:11:01,300 --> 01:11:03,969 That ideal is the message that's presented to them 1308 01:11:04,052 --> 01:11:08,307 as what's normal, what's ideal, what they should be striving for. 1309 01:11:08,390 --> 01:11:11,601 And they're, uh, able to understand that… that Black Barbie, 1310 01:11:11,685 --> 01:11:14,855 that Latina Barbie, that Asian Barbie, those came later. 1311 01:11:14,938 --> 01:11:17,649 Those are extra. Those are so that we can see ourselves. 1312 01:11:17,733 --> 01:11:19,568 The societal structure of power and privilege 1313 01:11:19,651 --> 01:11:23,780 where Black people are at the bottom is clearly articulated to kids, 1314 01:11:23,864 --> 01:11:27,159 even if they can't use that language to describe it, 1315 01:11:27,242 --> 01:11:29,786 'cause they can see how this hierarchy exists 1316 01:11:29,870 --> 01:11:31,455 even in the toys they play with. 1317 01:11:31,538 --> 01:11:33,582 [girl] So if I had to choose, 1318 01:11:33,665 --> 01:11:37,002 I think it would be the regular one, Barbie, 1319 01:11:37,085 --> 01:11:39,796 because real Barbie has her own show. 1320 01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:42,674 I think that one's the original Barbie 1321 01:11:42,758 --> 01:11:48,055 because when I was over there waiting, I was watching the show, 1322 01:11:48,138 --> 01:11:51,600 and that's the first person that popped up. 1323 01:11:53,435 --> 01:11:55,854 [woman 15] So my daughter, when she watches the TV shows, 1324 01:11:55,937 --> 01:11:57,731 Black Barbie is not the main character. 1325 01:11:57,814 --> 01:12:00,776 We don't learn about Black Barbie's… Or any of the Black characters really. 1326 01:12:00,859 --> 01:12:04,446 We don't learn about their families. Um, really anything about them. 1327 01:12:04,529 --> 01:12:05,906 They're usually the sidekick. 1328 01:12:05,989 --> 01:12:09,493 It's almost like a present-day version 1329 01:12:09,576 --> 01:12:13,955 of the exclusion that was happening back when there wasn't a Black Barbie doll. 1330 01:12:14,039 --> 01:12:15,999 -Have you seen any of Barbie's movies? -Yes. 1331 01:12:16,083 --> 01:12:17,334 -I have. -You have? 1332 01:12:17,417 --> 01:12:18,794 Which movie have you seen? 1333 01:12:18,877 --> 01:12:21,254 I've seen the spy one, 1334 01:12:21,338 --> 01:12:22,422 the space one, 1335 01:12:22,506 --> 01:12:23,924 the regular one. 1336 01:12:24,549 --> 01:12:27,552 I used to watch her old Barbie Dreamhouse videos. 1337 01:12:27,636 --> 01:12:28,470 [Yeshiva] You did? 1338 01:12:28,553 --> 01:12:32,182 And, yeah, we watched, like, a Barbie movie. 1339 01:12:32,265 --> 01:12:35,352 It was, like, a mermaid Barbie, and it looked just like that. 1340 01:12:36,228 --> 01:12:38,647 I am Nachelle Jackson, 1341 01:12:38,730 --> 01:12:40,816 and this is my daughter, Kayden. 1342 01:12:42,984 --> 01:12:45,237 Hi. I'm 14. 1343 01:12:46,113 --> 01:12:47,948 And I was forced to play with dolls. 1344 01:12:48,490 --> 01:12:50,659 -You weren't forced to play with dolls. -[laughter] 1345 01:12:50,742 --> 01:12:52,327 Um, and so I can remember a time 1346 01:12:52,411 --> 01:12:58,708 when we were several volumes in to varying Barbie movies, 1347 01:12:58,792 --> 01:13:02,796 um, and we went to Target to go find a new Barbie doll. 1348 01:13:02,879 --> 01:13:06,967 I remember being on that aisle and saying, "Okay, here's a Barbie." 1349 01:13:07,467 --> 01:13:09,970 And I'm like, "Okay, this is Barbie, and she's Black." 1350 01:13:10,470 --> 01:13:14,433 Um, and I remember her being very adamant and saying, 1351 01:13:14,516 --> 01:13:17,352 "This is not Barbie because Barbie's not Black." 1352 01:13:17,436 --> 01:13:18,603 "Barbie's white." 1353 01:13:18,687 --> 01:13:22,482 I think they need to include more races to their shows. 1354 01:13:22,566 --> 01:13:25,986 'Cause they usually include just one race as the main character. 1355 01:13:26,069 --> 01:13:28,864 The show didn't come out till I was older, 1356 01:13:28,947 --> 01:13:31,491 so when I hit, like, ten. Nine, ten. 1357 01:13:32,284 --> 01:13:35,036 Um, I liked it better because it had a Black character in it. 1358 01:13:35,120 --> 01:13:38,165 That's probably why I never saw Barbie as Black. 1359 01:13:38,248 --> 01:13:42,043 Because she was always… Because the Black person was always the friend. 1360 01:13:42,544 --> 01:13:45,297 Like Nikki or Christie or something like that. 1361 01:13:45,380 --> 01:13:48,967 My name is Aydrea Walden, and I am a writer living in Los Angeles. 1362 01:13:49,050 --> 01:13:51,136 So I was a little familiar with the Barbie Vlog 1363 01:13:51,219 --> 01:13:52,888 before I got involved with it. 1364 01:13:52,971 --> 01:13:58,518 There had been a couple of pieces that just broke through into my radar. 1365 01:13:58,602 --> 01:14:00,812 I was familiar with Mattel. 1366 01:14:00,896 --> 01:14:03,398 I had done some work for Mattel on other shows, 1367 01:14:03,482 --> 01:14:06,193 and so I had a great relationship with them 1368 01:14:06,276 --> 01:14:10,113 when they approached me about wanting to do something 1369 01:14:10,197 --> 01:14:14,451 to talk about the issues that were going on in 2020. 1370 01:14:15,035 --> 01:14:17,370 -Hey, everybody. -Hey, everyone. 1371 01:14:17,454 --> 01:14:21,166 So there is a huge movement going on. 1372 01:14:21,249 --> 01:14:23,960 People, millions of people, across the world 1373 01:14:24,044 --> 01:14:26,922 are standing up to fight against racism, 1374 01:14:27,005 --> 01:14:30,967 and they're doing this because too often, and for such a long time, 1375 01:14:31,051 --> 01:14:35,347 people have been treated unfairly and, in some cases, even hurt by others 1376 01:14:35,430 --> 01:14:37,057 because of the color of their skin. 1377 01:14:37,140 --> 01:14:40,227 They basically said, "We wanna do this as a Barbie Vlog, 1378 01:14:40,310 --> 01:14:42,938 and if you could say something, what would your message be?" 1379 01:14:43,021 --> 01:14:45,023 People might think that my life looks fine, 1380 01:14:45,106 --> 01:14:48,443 but the truth is I and so many other Black people 1381 01:14:48,527 --> 01:14:51,404 have to deal with racism all the time. 1382 01:14:51,488 --> 01:14:55,283 I've always found it fascinating that two people can be in the same space 1383 01:14:55,367 --> 01:14:57,827 and have very different experiences based on who they are. 1384 01:14:57,911 --> 01:14:59,412 That was what I wanted to talk about. 1385 01:14:59,496 --> 01:15:02,874 Barbie and I had a sticker-selling contest on the beach last month. 1386 01:15:02,958 --> 01:15:06,002 We split up and went different directions to see who could sell the most. 1387 01:15:06,086 --> 01:15:10,340 Well, while I was on the boardwalk, beach security stopped me three times. 1388 01:15:10,423 --> 01:15:11,258 What? 1389 01:15:11,341 --> 01:15:15,262 They asked me all these questions over and over, and they called my mom. 1390 01:15:15,345 --> 01:15:18,390 I never told you, but that's why I sold a few stickers that day. 1391 01:15:18,890 --> 01:15:21,226 The security officers thought I was doing something bad 1392 01:15:21,309 --> 01:15:23,645 even though I was doing exactly what you were doing. 1393 01:15:23,728 --> 01:15:25,981 We took a few stories of things that had happened to me, 1394 01:15:26,064 --> 01:15:28,233 true stories that had happened to me in my life, 1395 01:15:28,316 --> 01:15:30,860 and made them age appropriate for the audience. 1396 01:15:30,944 --> 01:15:35,282 And I do do that a lot in my work, of taking bigger issues, adult issues, 1397 01:15:35,365 --> 01:15:38,451 and making them appropriate for young audiences. 1398 01:15:38,535 --> 01:15:42,205 Usually, when I talk about these things, people make excuses. 1399 01:15:42,289 --> 01:15:45,000 They say things like, "Oh, well, maybe you should have had a permit 1400 01:15:45,083 --> 01:15:46,293 for selling on the beach." 1401 01:15:46,376 --> 01:15:47,961 But those are just excuses. 1402 01:15:48,044 --> 01:15:50,255 People did these things to me because I was Black, 1403 01:15:50,338 --> 01:15:52,340 and they made the wrong assumptions about me. 1404 01:15:52,424 --> 01:15:56,052 And they don't make those assumptions about white people like me. 1405 01:15:56,136 --> 01:15:59,306 The setup was simple. It was just two friends sharing experiences. 1406 01:15:59,389 --> 01:16:02,559 So I also thought it was nice that we were modeling 1407 01:16:02,642 --> 01:16:04,477 two people talking about something 1408 01:16:04,561 --> 01:16:06,521 that might be uncomfortable for both of them. 1409 01:16:06,605 --> 01:16:09,524 These stories are uncomfortable to talk about and also to hear. 1410 01:16:09,608 --> 01:16:12,068 And I think the team did a great job with it. 1411 01:16:12,152 --> 01:16:14,070 I'm really happy with how the piece came out. 1412 01:16:14,821 --> 01:16:16,781 What's that… what's that Dave Chappelle joke? 1413 01:16:16,865 --> 01:16:19,159 You know, "What does Ja Rule think?" 1414 01:16:19,242 --> 01:16:21,703 [laughs] You know? 1415 01:16:21,786 --> 01:16:23,872 [laughs] 1416 01:16:23,955 --> 01:16:27,959 I don't think I'mma go and be like, "What does Barbie think about racism?" 1417 01:16:28,043 --> 01:16:29,794 Maybe let's… [laughs] 1418 01:16:29,878 --> 01:16:31,254 Let's… let's tee up Barbie. 1419 01:16:33,381 --> 01:16:34,257 Oh. 1420 01:16:35,467 --> 01:16:36,384 Okay. 1421 01:16:37,093 --> 01:16:37,969 Wow. 1422 01:16:38,511 --> 01:16:41,264 Little white Barbie is an ally. I love it. 1423 01:16:41,348 --> 01:16:42,557 I love it if it works. 1424 01:16:42,641 --> 01:16:47,896 If, you know, little white girls that, um, look up to Barbie 1425 01:16:48,438 --> 01:16:50,065 and wanna be just like her, 1426 01:16:50,148 --> 01:16:52,275 if they pay attention to that, 1427 01:16:52,359 --> 01:16:57,447 and they start pointing out racism to… you know, when it's happening 1428 01:16:57,530 --> 01:17:00,533 and standing up for, you know, their Black friends 1429 01:17:00,617 --> 01:17:04,329 or their, you know, Latino friends or anyone who might be different. 1430 01:17:04,412 --> 01:17:08,958 It might help in seeing it for them because a lot of times they don't see it. 1431 01:17:09,042 --> 01:17:12,420 I think the one thing that that video was missing 1432 01:17:12,504 --> 01:17:17,884 was there was no actual actionable advice. 1433 01:17:17,967 --> 01:17:20,220 Just being an… an… an open ear 1434 01:17:20,303 --> 01:17:25,767 doesn't really, like, uh, arm you with the tools to deal with what happens 1435 01:17:25,850 --> 01:17:28,853 when your friends are being teased at a sleepover. 1436 01:17:29,354 --> 01:17:32,607 I'm a teeny, tiny bit sad 1437 01:17:32,691 --> 01:17:36,695 that kids can't just be kids. 1438 01:17:37,612 --> 01:17:42,659 Doesn't mean it's not necessary because… because reality hits, and reality is real, 1439 01:17:42,742 --> 01:17:44,953 and it happens way, way, way too young. 1440 01:17:45,036 --> 01:17:49,958 And if this bit of reality meeting fantasy 1441 01:17:50,041 --> 01:17:53,586 can help build our world into being more kind 1442 01:17:53,670 --> 01:17:58,466 and less, um, innocuous to racism and discrimination, 1443 01:17:58,550 --> 01:18:01,010 then that is really beautiful, and it's worth it. 1444 01:18:01,094 --> 01:18:04,514 I think it's amazing that they touched on an important social issue. 1445 01:18:04,597 --> 01:18:08,852 I think, for, you know, kids that maybe don't have those experiences, 1446 01:18:09,394 --> 01:18:10,937 to learn from those videos, 1447 01:18:11,020 --> 01:18:14,023 and maybe they weren't having those conversations at home, that's amazing. 1448 01:18:14,107 --> 01:18:15,942 But my first thought was, 1449 01:18:16,025 --> 01:18:19,028 "But when has this character even talked this much on the show?" 1450 01:18:19,112 --> 01:18:20,071 She doesn't. 1451 01:18:20,155 --> 01:18:22,240 You know, she might say a word here and there, 1452 01:18:22,323 --> 01:18:24,159 but she's the sidekick all day long. 1453 01:18:24,242 --> 01:18:28,371 In order to have progress, you have to have… you have to take steps, right? 1454 01:18:28,455 --> 01:18:31,958 Progress is not, like, you know… is not done in a leap. 1455 01:18:32,041 --> 01:18:34,210 The… the representation has increased. 1456 01:18:34,294 --> 01:18:36,421 Last year's movie, Big City Big Dreams, 1457 01:18:36,504 --> 01:18:39,174 we have Barbie Roberts, Malibu. 1458 01:18:39,257 --> 01:18:42,093 She finally meets another Barbie Roberts from Brooklyn. 1459 01:18:42,177 --> 01:18:45,722 -You're from Brooklyn, as in New York? -Is there any other? 1460 01:18:45,805 --> 01:18:48,016 There is one I saw where it was kinda cute. 1461 01:18:48,099 --> 01:18:51,186 It was the white Barbie and then the Black Barbie. 1462 01:18:51,269 --> 01:18:52,979 They had the same dorm room. 1463 01:18:53,062 --> 01:18:55,023 Um, I think this is my room. 1464 01:18:55,106 --> 01:18:58,485 Um, it has my name on it. I'm Barbie. 1465 01:18:58,568 --> 01:19:00,862 But I'm Barbie. 1466 01:19:01,446 --> 01:19:03,698 -What's your last name? -Roberts. 1467 01:19:04,699 --> 01:19:06,618 [both] We have the same name? 1468 01:19:06,701 --> 01:19:08,828 But it was really cool how they were, like, showing, 1469 01:19:08,912 --> 01:19:11,623 "We have our melanated Barbie. We also have the white Barbie." 1470 01:19:11,706 --> 01:19:13,208 But they're the same doll, 1471 01:19:13,291 --> 01:19:15,502 but it's a different variation 'cause of the skin tone. 1472 01:19:15,585 --> 01:19:18,588 So the Barbie multiverse is now opened up. 1473 01:19:18,671 --> 01:19:22,300 [Antwann] The thought is that, "Hey, this is progressive" 1474 01:19:22,383 --> 01:19:24,594 because of the fact 1475 01:19:24,677 --> 01:19:27,931 that Brooklyn has made it to the screen, right? 1476 01:19:28,014 --> 01:19:30,433 Um, it doesn't matter how she shows up. 1477 01:19:30,517 --> 01:19:33,478 She's in the space, and therefore it is progressive. 1478 01:19:33,561 --> 01:19:36,606 I think it's interesting that we understand 1479 01:19:36,689 --> 01:19:38,817 Brooklyn to be in competition 1480 01:19:38,900 --> 01:19:42,946 with someone who's wholly inadequate to be on the stage with her, right? 1481 01:19:43,029 --> 01:19:45,865 And so this is the experience that many Black women 1482 01:19:45,949 --> 01:19:49,035 experience day in and day out, right? 1483 01:19:49,118 --> 01:19:52,121 Um, it's seen as progressive that we've hired you. 1484 01:19:52,205 --> 01:19:53,039 [pigeon coos] 1485 01:19:53,122 --> 01:19:54,123 [gasps] 1486 01:19:54,207 --> 01:19:55,792 [yelps] 1487 01:19:56,417 --> 01:19:58,920 [Antwann] One can be inadequate… 1488 01:19:59,003 --> 01:19:59,838 Whoa! 1489 01:19:59,921 --> 01:20:02,382 …in their whiteness 1490 01:20:02,465 --> 01:20:05,093 and is seen as equal to… 1491 01:20:05,176 --> 01:20:06,886 Runaway suitcase. 1492 01:20:06,970 --> 01:20:10,723 …in this particular case, an over-credentialed Black woman. 1493 01:20:11,224 --> 01:20:14,310 And once again, ballet saves the day. 1494 01:20:14,394 --> 01:20:16,896 They are placed on the same stage of competition, 1495 01:20:16,980 --> 01:20:21,901 and this is seen as progressive when that is not the case. 1496 01:20:21,985 --> 01:20:26,322 ♪ I'll see you at the finish line ♪ 1497 01:20:26,406 --> 01:20:30,618 [Antwann] Even though they tied, I still see that as "in service of." 1498 01:20:31,160 --> 01:20:34,205 How come Mattel could not lean in and say, 1499 01:20:34,289 --> 01:20:38,877 "All right, Brooklyn has the credentials. She has a talent. She's taking this"? 1500 01:20:39,586 --> 01:20:41,963 [Lagueria] I think for some of the children, 1501 01:20:42,046 --> 01:20:46,050 the media felt like it was still skewing not as inclusive. 1502 01:20:46,134 --> 01:20:47,969 There was just talk in terms of 1503 01:20:48,720 --> 01:20:53,433 "What would it take for, um, one of the Black characters, 1504 01:20:53,516 --> 01:20:56,477 one of the Latina characters, one of the Asian characters, 1505 01:20:56,561 --> 01:20:58,897 to be the hero of their own story?" 1506 01:20:58,980 --> 01:21:01,691 Yeah, I think we're working there. So we are working there. 1507 01:21:01,774 --> 01:21:06,070 With the expansion of the Barbie Roberts… Excuse me, Barbie Roberts Brooklyn. 1508 01:21:06,154 --> 01:21:08,156 Expanding that out is a big step. 1509 01:21:08,239 --> 01:21:10,241 With the success of the movie last year, 1510 01:21:10,325 --> 01:21:13,786 Brooklyn is getting a line bespoke for herself. 1511 01:21:13,870 --> 01:21:15,872 A whole universe for herself. 1512 01:21:15,955 --> 01:21:18,666 Where… where she's still friends with Barbie Malibu, 1513 01:21:18,750 --> 01:21:21,711 but we're building a world around Brooklyn. 1514 01:21:21,794 --> 01:21:26,591 The Brooklyn line is gonna have a TV… like a Netflix series, 1515 01:21:26,674 --> 01:21:28,343 and gonna have dolls, 1516 01:21:28,426 --> 01:21:31,638 and probably interact even more on the… on the vlogs and whatnot. 1517 01:21:31,721 --> 01:21:33,014 So it's expanding. 1518 01:21:33,097 --> 01:21:37,310 Parents today still talk about wanting a Black Barbie or a Barbie of color 1519 01:21:37,393 --> 01:21:39,771 to be, uh, a main character, 1520 01:21:39,854 --> 01:21:43,149 and so I feel like the legacy is around empower… empowerment. 1521 01:21:43,232 --> 01:21:44,651 It's around cultural impact. 1522 01:21:44,734 --> 01:21:48,655 Increased inclusivity and… and representation is happening. 1523 01:21:48,738 --> 01:21:52,325 Uh, I think the number-one thing to think about, again, is… is 1524 01:21:54,160 --> 01:21:55,828 pace matters, 1525 01:21:55,912 --> 01:22:00,959 and sustained pace that is achievable and shows market impact 1526 01:22:01,042 --> 01:22:02,669 is better than a moment in time. 1527 01:22:02,752 --> 01:22:03,878 If it doesn't… 1528 01:22:03,962 --> 01:22:08,508 If… if we don't see the… the progress at the speed with which I wanna see it 1529 01:22:08,591 --> 01:22:11,636 or you may wanna see it or whomever wants to see it, 1530 01:22:12,220 --> 01:22:17,558 that's okay because my expectation is… is to continue to push that. 1531 01:22:17,642 --> 01:22:20,520 And my realization is that if it moves a little bit, 1532 01:22:20,603 --> 01:22:22,438 I'm doing the job. We're doing the job. 1533 01:22:22,522 --> 01:22:24,440 I don't think she will be as successful. 1534 01:22:24,524 --> 01:22:25,358 Why? 1535 01:22:25,858 --> 01:22:28,444 Because we live in a… 1536 01:22:29,320 --> 01:22:31,280 -I don't wanna say it. -Say it. 1537 01:22:31,364 --> 01:22:32,407 [Kayden chuckles] 1538 01:22:32,490 --> 01:22:36,828 Um, we live in a predominantly white world, I guess, 1539 01:22:36,911 --> 01:22:41,207 and most successful people that you think of is 1540 01:22:42,333 --> 01:22:44,002 white, right? 1541 01:22:44,085 --> 01:22:49,590 And I think, since the demand is so high with the white people, 1542 01:22:49,674 --> 01:22:54,762 I don't think the Black Barbie will be a standalone character 1543 01:22:54,846 --> 01:22:57,890 without having at least some type of white character in it. 1544 01:22:58,641 --> 01:23:01,060 -Huh. So she couldn't stand alone. -[Kayden] Mm-mm. 1545 01:23:01,144 --> 01:23:04,313 I would want her to, but I don't think it will be as successful. 1546 01:23:04,981 --> 01:23:08,317 Uh, I'm disappointed to hear that, um, 1547 01:23:09,652 --> 01:23:13,865 she didn't… she doesn't think that it could be successful on its own 1548 01:23:14,365 --> 01:23:16,868 simply because it's a person of color. 1549 01:23:20,038 --> 01:23:22,832 [Lagueria] So that's my sister and my niece. 1550 01:23:23,875 --> 01:23:26,252 I was surprised to hear that's how she felt. 1551 01:23:27,045 --> 01:23:29,630 Are we really doing the job if it's 2024 1552 01:23:29,714 --> 01:23:33,384 and our kids are still thinking that the world is predominantly white? 1553 01:23:34,260 --> 01:23:37,346 We've come such a long way from Chapter One 1554 01:23:37,430 --> 01:23:39,891 and the lack of Black dolls. 1555 01:23:40,475 --> 01:23:41,350 Right? 1556 01:23:47,565 --> 01:23:51,277 Tell me about what's going on in this book. 1557 01:23:52,653 --> 01:23:54,655 [Beulah] 70th Anniversary Book. 1558 01:23:55,323 --> 01:23:58,076 They had a quote that I had quoted. 1559 01:23:59,410 --> 01:24:02,246 "I'm blessed because of 44 years at Mattel." 1560 01:24:02,330 --> 01:24:04,707 "I was most happy." Yeah, that was true. 1561 01:24:05,625 --> 01:24:08,252 I know Kitty's in here somewhere. What is she saying? 1562 01:24:08,336 --> 01:24:13,299 "Kitty Black Perkins, creator of the first Black Barbie and Holiday Barbie line." 1563 01:24:13,382 --> 01:24:17,470 "The best part of my job is that every little girl loves me 1564 01:24:17,553 --> 01:24:20,431 once she finds out what I do for a living." 1565 01:24:20,515 --> 01:24:22,100 [Lagueria] And here it is. 1566 01:24:23,935 --> 01:24:25,103 Let's see. 1567 01:24:25,186 --> 01:24:30,483 In 1980, as we know, Black Barbie was born. 1568 01:24:30,566 --> 01:24:32,652 -[Beulah] Eighty-two. -[Lagueria] In 1980. 1569 01:24:32,735 --> 01:24:35,822 -But let's see. Is Black Barbie here? -[Beulah] No, it doesn't say that. 1570 01:24:35,905 --> 01:24:37,949 They're pushing boundaries. 1571 01:24:38,032 --> 01:24:40,785 [Lagueria] They're pushing boundaries, but no mention of Black Barbie? 1572 01:24:40,868 --> 01:24:42,078 [Beulah] I know. 1573 01:24:42,703 --> 01:24:43,704 [Lagueria] I'm really sad 1574 01:24:43,788 --> 01:24:47,291 that Black Barbie didn't make the… the "Pushing the Boundaries" list. 1575 01:24:47,375 --> 01:24:49,210 -[Beulah] No, she didn't. -[Lagueria] No. 1576 01:24:49,710 --> 01:24:51,212 But Holiday Barbie did. 1577 01:24:54,006 --> 01:24:55,758 [Lagueria] While making this film, 1578 01:24:55,842 --> 01:24:58,719 I often thought of little Lagueria, 1579 01:24:58,803 --> 01:25:02,390 a shy, soft-spoken Black girl from Texas, 1580 01:25:02,473 --> 01:25:06,060 and what it would have meant to have seen something like this documentary. 1581 01:25:06,894 --> 01:25:10,648 Seeing it and wanting to be it because, like her aunt, 1582 01:25:10,731 --> 01:25:12,775 she wanted to ask the hard questions 1583 01:25:12,859 --> 01:25:15,945 and lay the groundwork for future generations. 1584 01:25:16,529 --> 01:25:21,159 And, like Shonda, she felt the burden of being the first, but did it anyway. 1585 01:25:21,242 --> 01:25:25,454 And, like Misty, she understood that it was indeed like a protest 1586 01:25:25,538 --> 01:25:28,416 being in this Black body saying you're a part of a history 1587 01:25:28,499 --> 01:25:31,127 that doesn't always include you. 1588 01:25:31,210 --> 01:25:34,714 And like Kitty and Stacey, she saw a need. 1589 01:25:34,797 --> 01:25:37,925 She saw a need to tell Black Barbie's story. 1590 01:25:38,009 --> 01:25:39,635 To put her on the timeline. 1591 01:25:39,719 --> 01:25:42,847 Because Black Barbie is important, 1592 01:25:42,930 --> 01:25:44,807 and her story matters. 1593 01:25:46,309 --> 01:25:47,852 As you can see, 1594 01:25:47,935 --> 01:25:52,148 I found myself intentionally inspired while making this film, 1595 01:25:52,231 --> 01:25:55,067 and I wondered how it would inspire you. 1596 01:25:56,110 --> 01:25:58,738 I think that's why films like these are so important. 1597 01:25:58,821 --> 01:26:00,823 Um, preserving that legacy, if you will. 1598 01:26:01,616 --> 01:26:05,494 I absolutely think Black Barbie paved the way, 100%. 1599 01:26:06,078 --> 01:26:11,000 [Kitty] I want everybody to know that Black Barbie reflects who I am. 1600 01:26:11,083 --> 01:26:16,672 My personality and all of that went into this particular doll. 1601 01:26:17,215 --> 01:26:21,385 I feel that I've been able to give some kind of joy 1602 01:26:22,220 --> 01:26:26,265 to every little girl who played with any of the dolls that I've designed, 1603 01:26:26,349 --> 01:26:29,143 and I think I've used my creativity, 1604 01:26:29,227 --> 01:26:30,728 which is God-given, 1605 01:26:30,811 --> 01:26:32,980 in a positive way. 1606 01:26:33,064 --> 01:26:39,070 I'm so grateful for the growth and the future of where Barbie is headed. 1607 01:26:39,153 --> 01:26:43,157 However, I also know that it wouldn't be headed toward the future that it is 1608 01:26:43,241 --> 01:26:44,825 if it weren't for Black Barbie. 1609 01:26:44,909 --> 01:26:50,331 And, again, so proud of Black women 1610 01:26:50,414 --> 01:26:55,086 for calling out things that are important to us 1611 01:26:55,169 --> 01:26:58,422 in spaces where we're so oftentimes silenced. 1612 01:26:58,506 --> 01:27:01,008 Like, that must have been incredibly difficult. 1613 01:27:01,592 --> 01:27:03,886 And so I'm excited, 1614 01:27:03,970 --> 01:27:07,139 but I first have to pay homage to how it even came to be. 1615 01:27:07,807 --> 01:27:12,019 I'm just so grateful for the legacy that has been created from it. 1616 01:27:12,103 --> 01:27:14,105 -♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ -♪ Hey! ♪ 1617 01:27:15,898 --> 01:27:17,775 -♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ -♪ Hey! ♪ 1618 01:27:18,734 --> 01:27:22,071 [Lagueria] Okay, so I don't hate dolls anymore. 1619 01:27:22,989 --> 01:27:28,160 I'm actually grateful to know their story because it has given me so much life 1620 01:27:28,244 --> 01:27:32,748 to highlight how Black women rise up and support each other. 1621 01:27:32,832 --> 01:27:34,709 These three women, 1622 01:27:34,792 --> 01:27:39,380 Kitty, Stacey, and my aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell, 1623 01:27:39,463 --> 01:27:41,132 teamed up together 1624 01:27:41,215 --> 01:27:44,969 because when they didn't see what they wanted, they made it. 1625 01:27:45,553 --> 01:27:47,888 Hey, that's just what we do. 1626 01:27:48,889 --> 01:27:52,643 They were first but made sure they wouldn't be the last 1627 01:27:52,727 --> 01:27:55,271 by passing the torch to me now. 1628 01:27:55,855 --> 01:27:58,649 So, like them, I saw a need, 1629 01:27:58,733 --> 01:28:01,152 assembled an amazing team, 1630 01:28:01,235 --> 01:28:04,030 and finally made Black Barbie 1631 01:28:04,113 --> 01:28:07,616 the hero of her own story. 1632 01:28:08,826 --> 01:28:11,412 ♪ I think they mad 'cause we fab ♪ 1633 01:28:11,495 --> 01:28:13,122 ♪ Oh, what a drag ♪ 1634 01:28:13,205 --> 01:28:15,041 ♪ Don't be so drab ♪ 1635 01:28:15,124 --> 01:28:18,294 ♪ Most imitated But they put us in a bag ♪ 1636 01:28:18,794 --> 01:28:21,964 ♪ I'm 'bout to put The melanated on the map ♪ 1637 01:28:22,048 --> 01:28:23,090 ♪ You mad, huh ♪ 1638 01:28:23,632 --> 01:28:25,176 ♪ We Black out tonight ♪ 1639 01:28:25,259 --> 01:28:27,094 ♪ We're the original gangstas ♪ 1640 01:28:27,178 --> 01:28:28,888 ♪ These are the facts of life ♪ 1641 01:28:28,971 --> 01:28:30,848 ♪ And we give you life So you should thank us ♪ 1642 01:28:30,931 --> 01:28:32,850 ♪ You should be acting right ♪ 1643 01:28:32,933 --> 01:28:34,602 ♪ But you mad uptight ♪ 1644 01:28:34,685 --> 01:28:36,062 ♪ Tryna strategize ♪ 1645 01:28:36,145 --> 01:28:38,606 ♪ But when we Black out Can't stop the fire ♪ 1646 01:28:40,191 --> 01:28:43,444 ♪ Can't nobody put it out Can't nobody put it out ♪ 1647 01:28:43,527 --> 01:28:45,571 ♪ When we Black out Can't stop the fire ♪ 1648 01:28:47,448 --> 01:28:50,451 ♪ Can't nobody put it out Can't nobody put it out ♪ 1649 01:28:51,118 --> 01:28:53,454 -♪ Black out, let's put it down ♪ -♪ Na, na, na, na ♪ 1650 01:28:53,537 --> 01:28:55,331 -♪ Hey! ♪ -♪ Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1651 01:28:55,831 --> 01:28:59,585 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1652 01:28:59,668 --> 01:29:02,505 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1653 01:29:03,130 --> 01:29:06,675 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1654 01:29:06,759 --> 01:29:10,304 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1655 01:29:10,388 --> 01:29:13,974 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1656 01:29:14,058 --> 01:29:16,977 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na… ♪ 1657 01:29:17,061 --> 01:29:21,607 I am so pleased to come into a studio and so… see such diversity. 1658 01:29:22,441 --> 01:29:28,697 Uh, years ago, when I first, you know, was early in politics, etc., 1659 01:29:28,781 --> 01:29:31,617 uh, I didn't see this kind of diversity. 1660 01:29:31,700 --> 01:29:35,913 I didn't see makeup artists that knew what color to put on your face. 1661 01:29:36,497 --> 01:29:39,166 I didn't see people behind the camera, 1662 01:29:39,250 --> 01:29:42,336 interviews being done about people of color. 1663 01:29:42,420 --> 01:29:45,840 Things have changed quite a bit in the entertainment industry. 1664 01:29:45,923 --> 01:29:49,218 I love seeing you all. I love the diversity here. 1665 01:29:49,301 --> 01:29:50,845 Thank you for inviting me. 1666 01:29:50,928 --> 01:29:52,346 -♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ -♪ Hey! ♪ 1667 01:29:54,223 --> 01:29:56,058 -♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ -♪ Hey! ♪ 1668 01:29:57,893 --> 01:29:59,728 -♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ -♪ Hey! ♪ 1669 01:30:01,564 --> 01:30:03,274 -♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ -♪ Hey! ♪ 1670 01:30:06,527 --> 01:30:07,361 ♪ Hey! ♪ 1671 01:30:11,574 --> 01:30:16,829 I'm thinking that the idea came up at one point in time, several years ago. 1672 01:30:17,663 --> 01:30:18,581 Where is she? 1673 01:30:18,664 --> 01:30:20,374 [laughter] 1674 01:30:45,399 --> 01:30:46,442 [laughter] 1675 01:30:58,871 --> 01:31:02,124 Well, someday, there will be 1676 01:31:02,708 --> 01:31:04,960 a very mature Barbie. 1677 01:31:05,044 --> 01:31:06,837 [laughter] 1678 01:31:09,048 --> 01:31:11,634 ♪ I think they mad 'cause we fab ♪ 1679 01:31:11,717 --> 01:31:13,469 ♪ Oh, what a drag ♪ 1680 01:31:13,552 --> 01:31:15,346 ♪ Don't be so drab ♪ 1681 01:31:15,429 --> 01:31:18,807 ♪ Most imitated But they put us in a bag ♪ 1682 01:31:18,891 --> 01:31:22,186 ♪ I'm 'bout to put the melanated On the map ♪ 1683 01:31:22,269 --> 01:31:23,354 ♪ You mad, huh ♪ 1684 01:31:23,854 --> 01:31:25,481 ♪ We Black out tonight ♪ 1685 01:31:25,564 --> 01:31:27,441 ♪ We're the original gangstas ♪ 1686 01:31:27,525 --> 01:31:29,151 ♪ These are the facts of life ♪ 1687 01:31:29,235 --> 01:31:31,070 ♪ And we give you life So you should thank us ♪ 1688 01:31:31,153 --> 01:31:33,072 ♪ You should be acting right ♪ 1689 01:31:33,155 --> 01:31:34,865 ♪ But you mad uptight ♪ 1690 01:31:34,949 --> 01:31:36,408 ♪ Tryna strategize ♪ 1691 01:31:36,492 --> 01:31:38,786 ♪ But when we Black out Can't stop the fire ♪ 1692 01:31:39,286 --> 01:31:40,329 ♪ Hey ♪ 1693 01:31:40,412 --> 01:31:43,707 ♪ Can't nobody put it out Can't nobody put it out ♪ 1694 01:31:43,791 --> 01:31:45,834 ♪ When we Black out Can't stop the fire ♪ 1695 01:31:46,585 --> 01:31:47,628 ♪ Hey! ♪ 1696 01:31:47,711 --> 01:31:50,839 ♪ Can't nobody put it out Can't nobody put it out ♪ 1697 01:31:51,382 --> 01:31:54,009 -♪ Black out, let's put it down ♪ -♪ Na, na, na, na ♪ 1698 01:31:54,093 --> 01:31:55,636 ♪ Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1699 01:31:56,136 --> 01:31:59,765 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1700 01:31:59,848 --> 01:32:02,810 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1701 01:32:03,352 --> 01:32:06,939 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1702 01:32:07,022 --> 01:32:10,192 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1703 01:32:10,693 --> 01:32:14,238 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1704 01:32:14,321 --> 01:32:17,449 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1705 01:32:17,992 --> 01:32:21,829 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1706 01:32:21,912 --> 01:32:23,872 ♪ Black on Black Mixed with Black ♪ 1707 01:32:23,956 --> 01:32:25,457 ♪ Black on Black on Black on ♪ 1708 01:32:25,541 --> 01:32:28,085 ♪ We ain't no trend, that's a fact ♪ 1709 01:32:28,168 --> 01:32:30,921 ♪ We been the wave Y'all all just ripples in the back ♪ 1710 01:32:31,005 --> 01:32:32,006 ♪ Black on Black on ♪ 1711 01:32:32,089 --> 01:32:34,925 ♪ We celebrate Just call me cocky how we brag ♪ 1712 01:32:35,009 --> 01:32:36,302 ♪ It's facts though ♪ 1713 01:32:36,385 --> 01:32:38,095 ♪ I think they curious ♪ 1714 01:32:38,178 --> 01:32:39,388 ♪ Think they obsessed ♪ 1715 01:32:40,014 --> 01:32:43,350 ♪ With a girl like me, dipped in honey Oh God, we blessed ♪ 1716 01:32:43,434 --> 01:32:45,436 ♪ We got that bomb, huh ♪ 1717 01:32:45,519 --> 01:32:47,271 ♪ We got that thing, yeah ♪ 1718 01:32:47,354 --> 01:32:50,608 ♪ When you was born with it You cannot fake this ♪ 1719 01:32:50,691 --> 01:32:54,194 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1720 01:32:54,278 --> 01:32:57,865 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1721 01:32:57,948 --> 01:33:01,076 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1722 01:33:01,577 --> 01:33:05,164 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1723 01:33:05,247 --> 01:33:08,334 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪ 1724 01:33:08,876 --> 01:33:12,379 ♪ Black on both sides That's how I like it ♪ 1725 01:33:12,463 --> 01:33:15,549 ♪ Na, na, na, na Na, na, na, na, na ♪