In 1936 at the summer Olympics, U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens proudly wore shoes with spikes by a fledgling German shoe company, now known as Adidas. Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin. 

Adolf Hitler saw the games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy or prejudice against Jews, also known as antisemitism. Many Jewish athletes were barred from participating. By 1945, Hitler managed to kill about 6 million European Jews.

Fast forward to 2023, Adidas is still courting Black celebrities and athletes but has found its past has come back to haunt them through Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. The company dumped Ye for making discriminatory remarks against Jewish people. But the company’s swift ousting of Ye and his Yeezy sneaker and clothing line increased demand for the merchandise by about 30 percent, according to Impossible Kicks, a retailer that buys, sells, and trades high-end sneakers and apparel. Yeezy sneakers are among the top three sellers for Impossible Kicks. 

Adidas said it was expecting to lose $1.3 billion in revenue this year after ending its partnership with Ye, leaving the company stuck with a lot of unsold Yeezy merchandise. Despite Ye’s remarks against Jews and his very public friendships with questionable racists, Adidas is circulating in the news to have made an agreement to bring Ye back to unload the merchandise. 

Adidas, which has partnered with Ye for almost 10 years, wasn’t the only company to call it quits because of his outbursts. Other companies include the Gap and Footlocker. 

The National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture – the only museum in the country whose mission is to preserve the history of African Americans through the art and craft of Black dolls – will spend 2020 telling the story of beauty, culture and empowerment in its newest exhibit VIBE: Visions In Black Elegance. The exhibit features the 40th Anniversary of Black Barbie and a tribute to The Ebony Fashion Fair.

The exhibit opens in May with the annual Mother’s Day Tea held at Lombardo’s in Randolph, MA, commemorating the creation of the first Black Barbie doll by Kitty Black Perkins, this year guest speaker.

“Yes, She Does Come In Black!” This May, the museum will pull out all the high fashion stops (with over 300 Barbie’s…) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Black Barbie doll. As we explore the creativity of her designer, Kitty Black Perkins, we’ll look at the significance of this groundbreaking doll. Why was a Black Barbie so important? How has she changed in the last four decades? And how has she changed the industry? This will truly be a series of exhibits not to be missed by any Barbie lover.

Continuing on the theme of elegance and style, The Museum will present “The Ebony Fashion Fair: A Retrospective.” Using our fashion dolls and a treasure trove of artifacts, we journey through sixty years of the famous and glamourous touring Ebony Fashion Fair and its innovative founder, Eunice Johnson. Highlights include life-size mannequins dressed in garments selected from the pages of Ebony magazine and recreated by local seamstresses, an affirmation wall where visitors can share their wisdom and “I SEE ME” – an immersive experience reminding us: representation matters!

So, immerse yourself this spring in empowerment and elegance. VIBE with us as we examine the lives of Kitty Black Perkins and Eunice W. Johnson, role models of Black women empowering themselves and others with visuals that showed the unmistakable truth: Black IS Beautiful!

About The Museum:
The National Black Doll Museum presented by the Doll E Daze Project Inc. has 5,000 dolls of color in their collection Located 35 miles south of Boston in Mansfield, MA. It is the first Black doll museum in New England, the second in the country, and the only doll museum in the world whose collection chronicles the history of African Americans through the eyes of a doll collector.

Learn more about the exhibit online at www.nbdmhc.org. It will be on display at the Museum, located at 288 N. Main Street in Mansfield, MA from May 12th – July 1st. A tea and reception is scheduled for Sunday May 10th from 11am to 4pm at Lombardo’s in Randolph, MA and will feature brief remarks by founder, Debra Britt, guest speaker Kitty Black Perkins, and others.

For more information, call (774) 284-4729 or visit the official web site at www.nbdmhc.org

For to purchase tickets, visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/barbie-mothers-day-teatalktribute-tickets-83611778079?aff=ebdssbdestsearch