American Girl is discontinuing more of its historical characters. And this time,
American Girl is discontinuing more of its historical characters. And this time, the group on the block includes two of the company’s more diverse offerings, African American Cécile and Asian American Ivy.
How can you not have an Asian American doll when all you talk about in the following promotional video is how great it is to be an ‘American Girl’?
American Girl announced the move on Facebook; Cécile’s fellow resident of antebellum New Orleans Marie-Grace, as well as Depression-era Ruthie, are also being discontinued.
Seven dolls remain, and they’re bringing back Samantha, as well. (Don’t all squeal at once, Samanthas.) All but Addy, Josefina (a Latina living in New Mexico) and Kaya (who’s Nez Perce) are white. While there’s a decently diverse selection of “My American Girl” dolls—which is table stakes, really—previous Girl of the Year dolls are an overwhelmingly white lot.
The dolls getting kicked to the archive are all “best friends,” companion dolls to main characters, which the company is phasing out.