Women’s History Month is in full effect, and Barbie is celebrating the occasion with a doll based on NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson.
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The company announced the news earlier this week, revealing it is releasing a collection of “sheroes” that will include Johnson, artist Frida Kahlo, Olympic snowboarding champion Chloe Kim, and 14 others.
"Girls have always been able to play out different roles and careers with Barbie and we are thrilled to shine a light on real life role models to remind them that they can be anything," Barbie senior vice president and general manager Lisa McKnight said in a news release.
Johnson, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., was a pioneer in mathematics, breaking gender and race barriers during her more than 30-year career at NASA. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, she worked as a “computer,” making calculations for several missions into space, including the historic 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon.
In 2016, "Hidden Figures," a movie based on the Margot Lee Shetterly book about NASA mathematicians during the Civil Right Movement, hit theaters. Starring Taraji P. Henson as Johnson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae, the critically-acclaimed flick earned three Oscar nomination.
The dolls from the "sheroes" collection retail for about $30 each. No word on the sale date yet, but fans who sign-up for alerts will be notified when they are available.
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