The Movement

One billboard. One Doll Test. One movement.

The Black Doll Affair began with one woman, one billboard, and one life-changing realization.

In 2005, model, publicist, and marketer Dana “Mama Doll” Hill took a bold leap of faith. Seeking to bring greater diversity to the modeling industry, on Broadway, she invested in a 52-foot-high by 62-foot-wide billboard in the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Her campaign, Got Spokesmodel, introduced a new idea: one spokesperson who could serve as the face, publicist, and marketer for brands while teaching companies how to genuinely engage—not simply sell to—the Black community.

Standing on one of the busiest streets in the world, intentionally showing off her dark hue, more than one million people passed each day, she believed opportunity would surely follow.

It didn’t.

After another headline-grabbing billboard, a rich white male seeking a wife, captured the nation’s attention, the dream quietly faded. What seemed like the end was actually the beginning.

In 2006, while watching The Oprah Winfrey Show, Mama Doll saw filmmaker Kiri Davis’s documentary, A Girl Like Me, which recreated the historic Doll Tests first conducted by psychologists Dr. Kenneth and Dr. Mamie Clark and later cited in Brown v. Board of Education.

Black children overwhelmingly chose the White doll as “pretty” and “good,” while describing the Black doll as “ugly” and “bad.”

Standing in her kitchen, Mama Doll suddenly understood something she had never realized before.

She wasn’t overlooked because she lacked talent. She wasn’t overlooked because she lacked experience. She wasn’t chosen…

…because she was the Black Doll.

That moment changed her life forever.

Rather than accept the narrative, she decided to rewrite it. On December 21, 2007, Sean Combs (Puff Daddy) restaurant, Justin's, hosted what was supposed to be a one-time Christmas season self-esteem party called The Black Doll Affair. 

That evening, women and men, of all races and ages, arrived to share their stories as the Black or white doll. The conversation was enlightening, empowering and important. Upon leaving, they left a toy black doll for Mama Doll to gift to a child that Christmas.  

Hearing the women's stories, having a hard time finding a dry eye at the party, Mama Doll's sister Christy, convinced her to turn the party into an empowering movement and local social club. 

Then a Pretty...Philanthropic™ legacy.  

Today, in its 19th year, The Black Doll Affair has grown into an international social and cultural empowerment movement created to help end racism through representation, education, philanthropy, meaningful conversations, and community. It's members, The Black Dolls, are pop culture icons and pretty...philanthropic humans! 

From the very beginning, the movement was built upon two simple ideas:

Be a Doll. Give a Doll.

Members proudly became Black Dolls, wearing on T-shirts, the title, Black Doll, once used to diminish them as a badge of confidence, beauty, and purpose.

Wherever The Black Dolls™ gathered—whether enjoying dinner together, attending cultural events, volunteering in their communities, or traveling the world—they also gifted Black dolls with children, schools, museums, libraries, hospitals, and community organizations.

Those simple acts of giving helped build one of the largest Black Barbie consumer communities in America and inspired countless children to see themselves reflected with beauty, dignity, and possibility.

Along the way, the movement welcomed:

• Black Dolls — women committed to uplifting themselves and others.
• Black Doll Brothas — men who stand beside the movement, encouraging, protecting, and celebrating Black women and girls.
• Porcelain Dolls — members of every race who believe helping end racism is humanity’s responsibility.

Together, they carry one message:

Love Hue.

Over the past 19 years, The Black Doll Affair has been honored by some of America’s most respected leaders and cultural icons.

The movement has been recognized by President Barack Obama, Congressman John Lewis, and the King family, including Naomi King, sister-in-law of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. family of living dolls whose namesake connected to the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, Viola, Linda and Cheryl Brown were also appointed by Mama Doll as Honorary Black Dolls, creating a powerful full-circle moment in the movement’s history.

Its story has been featured in publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Essence, Ebony, and Oprah Magazine, and has been referenced in educational materials, documentaries, and classrooms.

Honorary Black Dolls include but not limited to, Barbie doll designers, celebrated leaders, artists, athletes, entertainers, educators, and celebrities such as Dr. King's sister in law - Naomi King, Anthony Anderson, Beverly Johnson, Ryan Cameron, Gabrielle Union, Danny Strong, Misty Copeland, Taye Diggs, the women of Brown v Board: Linda, Cheryl and Veola, and many others who believe every child deserves to see themselves represented with pride.

Click here to meet our Honorary Black Dolls. (Link this after launch.)

Having become Mattel's largest consumer group of Black Barbie, today, the movement celebrates its own doll, the ME (Mitochondrial Eve) Doll - a human Family Heirloom and Educational Artifact created to help end racism. The Black Doll Affair continues through inclusive educational programming, museum experiences, philanthropy, cultural celebrations, self-esteem and sisterhood. 

Because before there was WE…there was ME. From one African mother, WE all come...