{"id":10933,"date":"2016-02-26T15:16:26","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T20:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=10933"},"modified":"2016-02-26T15:16:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T20:16:26","slug":"american-girl-releases-new-civil-rights-era-doll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2016\/02\/american-girl-releases-new-civil-rights-era-doll.html","title":{"rendered":"American Girl Releases New Civil Rights Era Doll"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"enhanced-24934-1456172359-3\"<\/a>\"grid-cell-4862-1456168409-14\"<\/a>Melody Ellison, a 9-year-old girl living in in the civil rights era, is the newest American Girl doll.\u00a0Melody was created to celebrate American Girl’s 30th anniversary and it will be available this summer.<\/p>\n

In Melody’s story, she lives in Detroit in the 1960s and she loves to sing. The accessories include a recording studio that plays Motown music.<\/p>\n

Fans are raving about American Girl’s decision to come out with their third African-American doll. Julia Prohaska, senior director of global brand at American Girl, stated “I think the doll industry has a very heavy responsibility in reflecting what is true about our society.” She went on to say that American Girl consulted with an advisory board of historians and educators, including the late civil rights activist Julian Bond, to assist with the doll’s creation and story.<\/p>\n

Melody is being released two years after Cecile, the lines second African-American doll, was discontinued in 2014. Their first African-American doll, Addy, is a Civil War-era girl who escapes slavery and is still available to consumers.<\/p>\n

The response to Melody’s announcement has been largely enthusiastic, despite the $119 price tag. Fans are excited to see more diversity in the dolls, as well as African-American history being included.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melody Ellison, a 9-year-old girl living in in the civil rights era, is the newest American Girl doll.\u00a0Melody was created to celebrate American Girl’s 30th anniversary and it will be available this summer. In Melody’s story, she lives in Detroit in the 1960s and she loves to sing. The accessories include a recording studio that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2927,1057,2929,1060,2928],"class_list":["post-10933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television","tag-american-doll","tag-american-girl","tag-civil-rights","tag-doll","tag-melody"],"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Girl Releases New Civil Rights Era Doll<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fans are excited for the announcement of the new American Girl doll, Melody, who reflects African-American history.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2016\/02\/american-girl-releases-new-civil-rights-era-doll.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Girl Releases New Civil Rights Era Doll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fans are excited for the announcement of the new American Girl doll, Melody, who reflects African-American history.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2016\/02\/american-girl-releases-new-civil-rights-era-doll.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-26T20:16:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2016\/02\/enhanced-24934-1456172359-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"592\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Bailey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"American Girl Releases New Civil Rights Era Doll","description":"Fans are excited for the announcement of the new American Girl doll, Melody, who reflects African-American history.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2016\/02\/american-girl-releases-new-civil-rights-era-doll.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"American Girl Releases New Civil Rights Era Doll","og_description":"Fans are excited for the announcement of the new American Girl doll, Melody, who reflects African-American 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