On July 24, Mattel unveiled a Barbie doll made in her likeness.The doll wore a pink jersey featuring Reese’s No.
5, the number she wears with the Atlanta Dream, and included details such as her headband, leg sleeve, necklace, pink nails and signature Reebok shoes.Angel Reese received her own Mattel Barbie doll in her Atlanta Dream uniform and a matching signature shoe edition, but her comments about representation drew scrutiny.(Getty Images)On July 25, she competed in her third consecutive WNBA All-Star Game.On Aug.
3, a matching Barbie edition of the Angel Reese 1, her signature sneaker, went on sale.WNBA COMMISSIONER VOWS TO CRACK DOWN ON 'RACISM, MISOGYNY,' DODGES BIG QUESTIONS AT ALL-STAR PRESS CONFERENCEThat same night, the Dream held "Barbie Game Day" at State Farm Arena, complete with special ticket packages and limited-edition merchandise.Reese’s doll sat beside her during media availability.In 10 days, Reese received her own Barbie, a matching version of her signature shoe and an entire WNBA promotional event tied to the collaboration.Yet even that wasn’t enough to keep Reese from returning to her favorite subject: what the world had denied her."Honestly, I didn’t have a lot of dolls because I didn’t have dolls that really looked like me much," Reese said when asked what dolls she played with growing up."That’s why I kind of really wanted to make sure this was super intentional, because now that they have a doll that looks like you, nails and hair, but also you can be a killer on the court as well."Reese didn’t say Black dolls never existed, but she clearly framed her childhood doll options as a failure of representation.So, it's worth noting that Mattel introduced Christie, a Black character in Barbie’s world, in 1968.
The first doll officially named Black Barbie arrived in 1980, more than two decades before Reese was born.American Girl introduced Addy Walker in 1993.And in 1998, Mattel sold officially licensed African-American NBA Bar...