After Ella Fitzgerald, Eleanor Roosevelt or Rosa Parks, it’s Madam CJ Walker’s turn to have a Barbie doll in her likeness. Little known in France, she is nevertheless an important personality of feminism in the United States. As reported ABC Newsshe is indeed the first black American millionaire and self-taught.
Sarah Breedlove, her real name, was born in 1867 in Louisiana. Daughter of former slaves, she founded the first hair care company specifically designed for black women. Walker Manufacturing Co. quickly grew into a beauty empire, employing thousands of women of color. Madam CJ Walker then became involved in the defense of civil rights and women’s rights. A leading activist and supporter of many associations, she then became one of the first great figures of Afro-feminism.
Break down barriers
Mattel, which launched “Inspiring Women” in 2018, a series of Barbies featuring pioneering women, therefore wanted to create a doll in her image. The company therefore contacted, in 2021, A’Lelia Bundles, the great-great-granddaughter of Madam CJ Walker and official biographer of her grandmother.
The latter explained to our colleagues that she hoped that this doll would allow children to discover the existence of these “real people who have had very interesting and significant lives, but who are rarely mentioned in school curricula”. And that it would make them want to break down barriers, as these women did in their time.