Or at least. We finally got to Scandoval. Don’t worry. It’s unimportant, complete fluff TV, but we were determined to find out what everybody was in an uproar about.

Usually when I’m watching random TV with Spank, I’m watching reality TV. But for some reason, she chose Josie and the Pussycats [Hey! Did you know that Valerie was the 1st regularly appearing female Black character in a Saturday morning cartoon show? Now you do!]

While I was doing very light research (y’all know I continue to fly by the seat of my pants. Ish. I will sometimes write down inspiration although, how do I even know it’s gonna be inspiration because even I don’t always know where my stories are going when I start them lol), I found out this show is older than me by a couple of years! I remember watching it as a little girl and loving it, but obviously I don’t remember details because WHY does Josie’s boyfriend Alan look like Fred from Scooby Doo? And is that…Shaggy (it wasn’t him! Or at least it wasn’t until it was. There are crossover episodes because both groups were Hannah Barbera characters)? What is going on?!

I was talking to a fellow old about it and he said especially back in the day, cartoonists would recycle characters. So the characters would be generally identical in appearance, with only small cosmetic changes, like hair color etc. Like, Josie and the Pussycats’ manager Alex was just a dark haired Josie’s boyfriend.

Me: That makes sense. Because Valerie looks exactly like Josie. Just, black.

Anyway. This year has been a LOT for all sorts of reasons that are not in the news (and the ones that have been in the news? JFC), and I needed a pick me up, so I decided to watch Barbie. Because I love it. It’s the girliest girl movie that ever girled. It’s PINK! Every girl is a Barbie! And every Barbie is DIFFERENT. AND DO YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING? Because now I want to know: When did Mattel create a Black Barbie?

WELL. In 1968, Christie, Barbie’s best friend, arrived on shelves, and she is widely regarded as the company’s first original Black doll. AND they released a black version of Francie, Barbie’s cousin. But Francie and Christie merely cemented the idea that they were the sidekicks to the white and blonde Barbie. “This provoked the question that if Barbie is the ideal and the norm, what about the people who don’t look like that and who can’t dream and imagine themselves as Barbie?” At the time it felt very progressive to give Barbie a sassy Black friend. But when you speak to the people who wanted a Black Barbie at the time, all they got was a friend of Barbie.

It was these concerns that led to the founding of Shindana Toys in South Central Los Angeles. As one of the first toy companies to create and market Black dolls that looked like Black people, not just dolls that had been painted black instead of white, its goal was to improve representation in dolls and the self-image of Black children. In 1968, Shindana released Baby Nancy, a doll that became hugely popular in Los Angeles and was eventually sold across the country. Baby Nancy’s success only highlighted what Mattel was missing.

Mattel had debuted Barbie’s Dreamhouse and car in 1962. The accessories allowed the imaginations of those playing with the dolls to expand even further. You can drive Barbie to places and put her in her own home, all of which just allowed kids to think even more about where and who they could be (yannow. As long as they were white).

Kitty Black Perkins, who arrived at Mattel in 1976 and then became principal designer for Barbie in 1978, headed the push to diversify the doll line. Having never owned a Barbie doll until she bought one to prepare for her interview with Mattel, Perkins knew of the negative impact that the toy industry’s lack of representation had on children. She explains, “There was a need for the little Black girl to really have something she could play with that looked like her. I wanted her to reflect the total look of a Black woman.” When the first official Black Barbie doll was finally released by Mattel in 1980, her box read, “She’s Black! She’s beautiful! She’s dynamite!” She was specifically a Black Barbie, unlike the other Black dolls from the company that either had a different name or the same design as Barbie just with a darker skin tone.

Over the decades, Mattel took steps to ensure that Barbie would be “the most diverse doll line on the market,” according to a statement from the company. Dolls and toys have finally started to mirror “the diverse human experience.” But there is still progress to be made in helping young people see themselves in the toys that they play with, in any color AND any size (Barbie also comes in petite, “curvy”, tall and the original, Basic Barbie™)