Time was when Barbie was synonymous with a stereotype of feminine beauty. Today, Mattel, Barbie’s parent company, understands like Victoria’s Secret that there’s more to a woman than a curvaceous form.
And so Barbie has created its Inspiring Women Series, saluting women whose grace and courage have afforded other women – and men – opportunities that had only been dreamt of.
We’re particularly impressed with the lovely doll honoring Rosa Parks. On Dec. 1, 1955, the African American seamstress refused to vacate a row of four seats in the “colored” section of a segregated Montgomery, Alabama, bus to accommodate a white passenger as the “white” section was filled. That act of logical defiance helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott and would lead Parks to be called “the mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement.”
What’s so striking about the doll is the way it emphasizes Park’s innate elegance, proving that there’s nothing quite so beautiful as a person of integrity.
