The first Black Barbie, which debuted in 1980, featured a doll fully immersed in her identity. Designed by Kitty Black Perkins, the doll had an Afro to complement her red dress and gold jewelry.

At its best, writer-director Lagueria Davis' film aims to challenge the level of responsibility placed onto Black Barbie and Mattel. Courtesy of Netflix In many ways, the release of “Black ...

Black Barbie celebrates the momentous impact three Black women at Mattel had on the evolution of the Barbie brand as we know it," read a description from Netflix attached to the trailer.

In Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated “Barbie” movie, which opens in theaters Friday, “Insecure” actress Issa Rae brings some black power to the iconic doll’s pink world as President ...

In Netflix documentary "Black Barbie," out Wednesday, June 19, executive producer Shonda Rhimes, 54, alongside ballerina Misty Copeland, 41, and Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, 38, detail the ...

Notably, the designer for the 40th anniversary collectible Black Barbie was white. Since the blockbuster’s release, Mattel announced that Perkins will return to help design a 45th anniversary doll.

Mattel did introduce Black fashion dolls in the late 1960s, but they were not named Barbie, and they were marketed as Barbie's friends. So the arrival of a true Black Barbie was an important moment.

For more than four decades, Lagueria Davis’s aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell, worked at Mattel. Davis, the director of the new Netflix documentary “Black Barbie,” was not a fan of dolls, but was ...

Black Perkins took inspiration from Diana Ross and fashion designer Bob Mackie’s avant-garde creations and considered her own preferences. Black Perkins liked red, the color of Black Barbie’s ...

"Black Barbie" director Lagueria Davis and Kitty Black Perkins, designer of the first Black Barbie, discuss the legacy of the doll and her cultural impact.

Now, Barbie is celebrating the 45th anniversary of their first-ever Black Barbie doll with a collectible doll of creator Black Perkins, who worked at the brand as a pioneering designer until 2004.

Black Barbie collector Elizabeth Williams shares a photo of her Maya Angelou doll from Mattel's Inspiring Women Series. Courtesy Elizabeth Wilson “I didn’t have a lot of that in my childhood.