Madam C.J. Walker is an icon for the ages. An entrepreneur, philanthropist, political activist and advocate, Walker showed the world that a Black woman could achieve success on her own terms, despite the many hurdles laid out before her. This spirit of resiliancy and dogged determination is what has helped Walker’s legacy endure for more than a century after her death. It’s also what inspired Barbie to fashion their newest doll in the likeness of the woman commonly known as the first self-made businesswoman in the United States.
“I hope that when [little Black girls] see the Madam Walker doll, they will be able to see themselves in that form,” A’Leila Bundles, the great-great granddaughter of Walker tells EBONY. “We were very intentional about the skin color, about the hair texture, about making the clothing, interesting and action forward. So I hope when they play with this doll they'll come to know her full story—that she was a businesswoman, that she employed thousands of African-American women and helped them become economically independent, but also that she was very focused on social justice and being a patron of the arts and being a philanthropist.”
Mattel notes that Walker’s unflinching determination and pioneering spirit not only helped revolutionize the hair care industry of the time, but broke boundaries and opened doors for the next generation of women entering business and entrepreneurship. For the youngest generation, the company believes it is imperative that their early childhood experiences shape what they imagine to be possible. That’s why Barbie says it’s honored to recognize role models like Walker in their Inspiring Women Series.
For Bundles, seeing her family legacy in doll form is extra special. “I'm a doll collector,” shares the author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. “So I’m happy to be able to add this Barbie to my collection and put her front and center in my display. It means a lot to me.”
Bundles says that the partnership in creating the doll started right around the time Barbie launched the Ida B. Wells doll. Seeing her friend Michelle Duster, the great-grandaughter of Wells, roll out that collaboration, gave the author and former network T.V. news executive a glimpse of how big an opportunity it would be. Barbie’s Inspiring Women Series, of which Walker and Wells are both a part of, pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time. Barbie describes those in the series as “courageous women who took risks, changed rules, and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before.”
Last year, the series paid tribute to Dr. Maya Angelou. Others who have been honored as part of the series include jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, NASA mathmatician and “Hidden Figure” Katherine Johnson, as well as civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Earlier this year, the series recognized Ida B. Wells for her heroic advocacy for civil rights. “I imagine that if somebody has the Ida B. Wells doll and the Madam C.J. Walker doll, maybe they might play with them together because those two women knew each other,” Bundles adds of her hopes for these two new and iconic Barbie figures.
The Walker family griot also desires that the doll will open up a curiosity for doll lovers young and old to get to know Madam Walker beyond her role as a manufacturer of haircare products. “Beyond starting a company—which was a big deal as she was a pioneer in the modern haircare industry—she was also much more involved in philanthropy and social activism, political activism than people know.”
Bundles shares that when Walker had her first convention of her sales agents in 1917 in Philadelphia, women came from all over the United States, the Caribbean and Central America. “These were women who had been sharecroppers and maids and laundresses, who now had their own businesses, their own salons,” says Bundles. “And at the convention, she gave prizes to the women who sold the most products but also to the women who had contributed the most to charity. And she said that she infused them with a political consciousness, telling them, ‘I want you to understand that as Walker agents, your first duty is to humanity. I want others to look at us and realize that we care not just about ourselves, but about others.’”
At the end of the convention, the women sent a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson urging him to support legislation to make lynching a federal crime. Over a century later, in March of 2022, President Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law. “I think that being a business woman, empowering other women—that is important,” says Bundles. “But with the help of this doll I want want people to know that Madam Walker had these other dimensions.”
