ATLANTA — One Texas woman uses her toy line to share the legacy of historically Black colleges and universities - and she just added another Atlanta school to her lineup.
People can now purchase a doll representing Spelman College.
"We are the world's first doll line centered around historically black colleges and universities at major retail," said Brooke Hart Jones, founder of HBCyou Dolls. Jones, a fellow HBCU alum from Hampton University, founded the doll line in 2022 to educate future generations about the importance of HBCUs in American culture.
"We started because of our mission to share the magic of HBCUs and plant the seed of higher learning in children," said Jones.
A new doll modeled after a cheerleader at Spelman College launched in Fall 2023. Like every doll in the collection, it comes with a major and leadership position that embodies the spirit of HBCUs.
"So we have a cheer captain, a student body president, a homecoming queen, and a majorette, who are major archetypes of figures within the HBCU community," Jones explained.
The Spelman doll joins two others in the line modeled after Atlanta HBCUs like Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University.
"I just want to make sure that we know that we're educating the future generations about these wonderful institutions that have brought us where we are today," Jones said.
According to Jones, the Spelman doll sold out due to its high demand. She encourages anyone interested in sharing the importance of HBCUs to check out other dolls in the line.
They can be found online on Amazon or in Target, Walmart and Sam's Club stores.