Ida B. Wells, Black journalist and suffragist, honored with new Barbie doll

By Adela Suliman, Washington Post

Black American journalist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells will have her likeness transformed into a Barbie doll to honor her historic achievements.

Wells, who was born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862 during the Civil War, went on to break boundaries as a prominent suffragist fighting to expand the right to vote.

Wells also won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for her “courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching” and helped to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

“Barbie is proud to honor the incredible Ida B. Wells as the newest role model in our Inspiring Women series, dedicated to spotlighting heroes who paved the way for generations of girls to dream big and make a difference,” an Instagram account for Barbie, a doll manufactured by Mattel, said in a post.

Wells’s activism and work had brought “light to the stories of injustice that Black people faced in her lifetime,” Barbie said, adding that learning about “heroes” like Wells could help today’s children envision a better future.

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