In ‘Black Barbie,’ the 44-year-old doll reclaims her spotlight

The Netflix documentary “Black Barbie” examines why the doll, which was created by designer Kitty Black Perkins in 1980, holds a strong cultural significance.

More than a decade ago, filmmaker Lagueria Davis decided to spend the day visiting her aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell. As her aunt poured her a drink, she began telling Davis the story of how she started working for Mattel in 1959 and later played an influential role in the toy maker’s launch of Black Barbie in 1980. 

Stunned by her aunt’s revelation, Davis listened as Mitchell explained how Kitty Black Perkins, the designer of the first Black Barbie, hired in 1976, and Stacey McBride-Irby, a Black Barbie designer who Perkins added to her team in 1996, turned the doll into a cultural star.  

“I’m like, ‘This is a story. I want to tell this story,’” Davis tells TODAY.com in a joint interview with Perkins about her documentary “Black Barbie,” now streaming on Netflix. 

That initial conversation led Davis to start making her film in 2011, one that puts Black Barbie in the spotlight and examines how her introduction changed the toy industry and society.

She knew she wanted to bring her aunt, Perkins, and McBride-Irby — three Black pioneers who navigated a corporate environment for decades while supporting each other — together again in one room again. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-barbie-44-year-old-doll-reclaims-spotlight-rcna158110

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