Have you heard? American Girl has added a new girl to the Be Forever line! Her name is Melody. Based in 1963, Melody is a 10-year-old girl living in Detriot and learning about the racial inequality around her. Melody is currently available at the American Girl store but today, Amazon Video is releasing “An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has To Win”.
I was fortunate enough to see a prescreening last night of “An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has To Win”. I instantly fell in love with Melody. She’s a spunky little girl that is full of passion and dreams. She is also one heck of a sewer! When we first meet Melody, she is just finishing up sewing her astronauts costume and turning her mother’s hair dryer into a helmet. She’s bouncing around the house and just being an adorable little girl. But it doesn’t take long till we see the racial inequality in Melody’s life.
As a mother, to a young girl, seeing Melody experience these inequalities broke my heart. No parent wants to see their child singled out because of the color of their skin and treated differently. But yet time and time again we see that happening to Melody. She’s treated differently at school, some children won’t even talk to her.
Throughout it all Melody keeps her head high. I was so proud of her when she stood up for herself. I was so proud of her when she tried to fight the inequality. Melody is such an inspiring little girl.
American Girl did a wonderful job showing the inequalities Melody faced in a way children could identify with. I used this film as a talking segway for Peyton and myself. We live in a very open community and have friends of many heritages. For us, it doesn’t matter what color your skin is or where you are from. We see the person, not the skin color. But for Melody, times were different. Peyton was appalled that a kid wouldn’t play with someone because of the color of their skin. So I had to explain to her how things used to be.
We’ve come a long way since 1963, but we still have further to go. I think having our youth watch “An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has To Win” is a good way to get the conversation started in a way children will understand.
“An American Girl Story – Melody 1963: Love Has to Win” is now available on Amazon Video. Watch it today with your little one and then talk about it with your child.
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