Motown, Detroit set scene for Melody Ellison's story

There’s a new girl in town — or at least there will be in August, when American Girl debuts its latest historical BeForever doll, Melody Ellison, a 9-year-old African-American Detroiter growing up in the 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement.

“We thought it was important to set the story in Detroit to really illustrate that the struggle for civil rights was not just a Southern issue,” said company spokeswoman Julie Parks. “It was really people across the United States actively participating in the struggle for racial equality, and we thought that was an important story to tell.”

Each historical American Girl doll — there have been 15 in the last 30 years — comes with books that tell the story of the child in the context of U.S. history, teaching girls about an important period in time.

Detroit played no small role in the civil rights movement . The city had one of the largest NAACP branches in the country and was the place where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led 125,000 people in the Walk to Freedom and tested his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at Cobo Hall. Those key events, as well as the rising popularity of Motown music, all have a part in Melody’s story.

“1960s Detroit had a vibrant, thriving black community with rich political, cultural and religious establishments,” Parks said. “Family and faith played a huge role in Melody’s stories. In particular, her church. That’s where she sings and learns to use her voice. … There were more independently black-owned businesses in Detroit than anywhere else in the country at the time. One of the most well-known is, of course, Motown Records.”

To ensure the doll and her story were historically accurate, the company consulted with an advisory board who had a rich knowledge of Detroit’s history and the history of the civil rights movement. The board included the late civil rights leader Julian Bond; Juanita Moore, president and CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; Gloria House, professor emerita of African-American studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and JoAnn Watson, the former Detroit city councilwoman who also served as executive director of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP.

It was Watson’s childhood, especially, that influenced Melody’s story, author Denise Lewis Patrick said by phone last week from New York City, where she teaches writing and critical thinking at Nyack College.

“There were influences in JoAnn Watson, who is a Detroiter and part of our advisory board,” Lewis Patrick said. “The day I flew in for our first meeting, … I was in the car with her on a ride-around tour of Detroit in the areas where she grew up. So I was in the back seat furiously taking notes, trying to get anecdotes and things like that.

“JoAnn was a great resource for making it real, the story of this little girl who grew up in Detroit.”

For Watson, who was born on the city's east side and grew up on the west side,  it was an honor to serve on the advisory board and help the company ensure the authenticity of Melody’s character.

“I felt very connected to the story line of Melody Ellison, and how she was impacted by the ’60s because I was 9 years old in 1960, was active in the black church (like Melody), and experienced early involvement in the civil rights movement by marching with my grandparents as a 12-year-old in Detroit’s ’63 march to freedom,” Watson said, a graduate of Central High School.

“Like Melody’s character, my family enjoyed big Sunday dinners with grandparents and extended family members; and like Melody, I was captivated by Motown sound.

Civil rights, Detroit inspired new American Girl doll

"I called my grandmother who fed the homeless while cooking feasts Big Mama. That is also the name Melody calls her grandmother. The Sunday dinner extended family feasts, youth choir participation in church, and discussion of current events at the family table were also similarities in the book and my early life."

Lewis Patrick said telling the civil rights story through the lens of Detroit is important because it allows people to see that the fight for equality wasn’t just a Southern phenomenon.

“For our kids today, the way we talk about the civil rights movement by in large is as it happened in the South. … I think it’s a strength to expand that so kids can see that there were lots of people who were involved in trying to make these changes in our country. I embraced that. It was interesting for me to research what things were different and what things were the same.”

The advisory board also helped the company decide how Melody Ellison should look, what clothes she should wear, and ensured that her story was not only accurate, but also sensitive and hopeful, Parks said.

“Hopefulness is so key to this story,” she said. “We always try to show an optimistic perspective while tackling tough issues at the same time. We don’t shy away from tough subjects. We don’t ignore what was going on in the South at the time. We talk about the church bombings in Birmingham. Her sister gets involved in trying to overcome barriers to get blacks the right to vote. Those kinds of things we don’t ignore. They’re in the story.

“Melody finding her voice is also a piece of that journey … and using it to speak out about things that matter to her, and where she can make a difference. For girls today, that is incredibly relatable. Melody can be a role model for girls, showing how ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they come together. That’s at the heart of Melody’s story.”

Moore, who worked on the advisory board for nearly three years before the doll’s announcement last week in conjunction with Black History Month, said it was hard to keep the work a secret.

So much of Melody’s story rings true to children of that era, and to Moore.

“I can remember when our schools were first integrated, and what that meant in terms of understanding the impact of the civil rights movement,” Moore said. “And of course, we all were glued to anything we could hear or see about Dr. King. The story rang very true with me.

“This is a doll that all girls should get — adults, too,” Moore said. “I would love to have this doll. But it’s important to not just get the doll but to get the books, and to read those stories is really critical. To share those stories with young people. Not just girls, but boys as well they begin to see how that possibility of their dreams can come true. It’s a great story in those books.”

At a cost of $115, though, owning a Melody doll might be out of reach for some.

Parks said many parents consider the purchase of an American Girl doll an investment, and choose to purchase a doll and pass it through the generations.

“In addition, Melody is about much more than a doll," Parks said. "A girl can get involved with Melody in many ways — through a book ($10 or free in most public and school libraries), through a free event at one of our stores or bookstores nationwide, through free games and activities on our website, and online content. Melody has a very dynamic world, much of which doesn’t cost anything.”

Each year, American Girl donates $500,000 in books and dolls to children’s hospitals, Save the Children’s U.S. literacy campaign, and other nonprofits, Parks said.

“While it’s too early to share specifics on our philanthropy efforts for Melody, I can say that our plans do include supporting Detroit-area organizations that benefit children, and we’re excited to announce our outreach plans closer to Melody’s official launch this August,” she said.

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.