Spartanburg has a new street sign bearing the name of a hometown designer whose work reshaped a toy aisle staple. Beacon Street has received the honorary designation Kitty Black Perkins Boulevard, honoring the Spartanburg native who designed the first Black Barbie doll, released by Mattel in 1980.
The honorary designation became official when Spartanburg City Council unanimously approved it on Oct. 26, according to the Post and Courier. Signs marking the new name went up the next day, with a ceremony unveiling them on Oct. 27. The location carries personal weight for Perkins: she was born at 444 Beacon St. in Spartanburg, the same stretch of road now carrying her name, per the same report.
From Spartanburg's Highland Neighborhood to Mattel's Design Studio
Perkins grew up in Spartanburg's Highland neighborhood, according to the Greenville Journal, the daughter of Luther and Helen Goode Black, and one of seven children in the household. She graduated from Carver High School in 1967, then relocated to Los Angeles that same year to pursue an education and career in fashion design, the Greenville Journal reports. That move from the Jim Crow South to the West Coast eventually led her to Mattel, where she began working in 1976, as noted by the Post and Courier.
Perkins joined the toy company as its only Black designer at the time, according to The Woodruff Times. Within a few years she designed the doll that would define her career: the first Black Barbie, which debuted in 1980 after demand from collectors, per CBS News. She went on to become chief designer of fashions and doll concepts for Mattel's Barbie line, a role the Greenville Journal credits her with holding as her career advanced.
A Career That Outlasted One Doll
Perkins's design work at Mattel extended well beyond that single doll. She worked on the Barbie Ice Cream Shoppe playset, which included a real ice cream maker and accessories for children to use with their dolls, according to the Greenville Journal's earlier reporting. Accounts of her tenure vary: WYFF reports she spent 28 years at Mattel creating designs and accessories for Barbie, while she held the role of Chief Designer of Fashions and Doll Concepts for Barbie for more than 25 years. CBS News reports she retired from Mattel in 2004 as chief Barbie designer, closing out a run the network describes as leaving her imprint on the doll for nearly three decades.
Retirement didn't end her connection to the brand. The Greenville Journal reports Perkins still works on special Black dolls when Mattel contacts her, and continues doing interviews and career days for communities in both Los Angeles and Spartanburg.
Her Legacy Keeps Growing Back Home
Spartanburg has been building on that legacy for more than a year now. Spartanburg County Public Libraries opened the Kitty Black Perkins Maker Lab in October 2025, according to WYFF News 4. Her story has also been told in the 2023 documentary “Black Barbie,” and through a Mattel anniversary tribute doll whose look was inspired by the original 1980s design, per Mattel's product listing.
Now the street where she was born carries her name too, a permanent marker in the neighborhood where her story began before it reached toy shelves nationwide.
