We were American Girls: What Addy taught me about Black hair, freedom and myself

Addy Walker wasn't my first Black doll, but she was my last. But the white American Girls' fights for freedom were figurative; Addy's fight was literal. I didn't get to see Addy arrive at freedom in "Meet Addy"; when the book ends, she's hidden on a wagon to be smuggled onto a ship bound for Philadelphia. Addy was dressed in the same clothes she had worn at the end of "Meet Addy" when a member of the Underground Railroad named Miss Caroline helped deliver Addy and Momma to Philadelphia: a pale pink dress with wiggly white stripes and white buttons that "was prettier than any she had imagined when she dreamed about freedom"; white bloomers, and a straw bonnet with a navy ribbon that tied under her chin. Instead of choosing between five historical figures, you could personalize one of the "American Girls of Today" to look just like you — or the idea you had formed about who you thought you were.