TEXAS \u2014 Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth and a fierce advocate for the preservation of Black history, has received another honor with her very own Barbie doll.<\/p>\n
Mattel released the doll on Thursday as part of the company\u2019s Barbie Inspiring Women series, which began in 2018 to commemorate \u201creal-life heroes who\u2019ve shaped history,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website. Lee joins trailblazers like Maya Angelou, Isabel Allende, Dr. Jane Goodall and more who have their own dolls in the line.<\/p>\n
The Opal Lee doll is an homage to Lee\u2019s work in helping make Juneteenth a federal holiday. It features the doll wearing a purple Walk for Freedom t-shirt and marching with a crowd behind her. It\u2019s available on Mattel\u2019s website for $38.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarbie recognizes all female role models. The Inspiring Women series pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules, and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before,\u201d the product description says.<\/p>\n
Lee had previously served as a teacher and counselor in her home state of Texas before retiring in 1977. When she was 89, her activism led to her organize a 1,400-mile walk from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., in 2016 in an effort to bring national attention to Juneteenth. Lee symbolically walked in 2.5 mile increments for the two and a half years it took for news of the Emancipation Proclamation to reach enslaved people in Galveston, Texas.<\/p>\n