Photos of Little Girl Dressed as Black Women Trailblazers
A Mother-Daughter Duo Honour Black Women Like Bessie Coleman and Meghan Markle in a Photo Shoot
Amber Robinson, a professional photographer based out of Raleigh, NC, wanted to teach her 5-year-old daughter, Avery, about the strong Black women who came before her. Determined to use her skills as a teaching tool, Amber began working with Avery on an in-depth photo project honouring trailblazers like Bessie Coleman, Meghan Markle, and Dr. Mae Jemison.
"I originally wanted to do something fun for Black History Month, but my ideas are never small, and the scope of planning a daily shoot in February quickly became more than I had time for," Amber told POPSUGAR. "So we pivoted slightly and used February to learn about some amazing Black American history-makers."
Getting each subject's look down was incredibly important to Amber and Avery. After parsing through the clothing items they already had, they borrowed what they needed from friends or placed a quick Amazon order to get each outfit just right.
"Avery LOVES playing dress-up, so we started making notes of the women that she was super interested in and started planning to highlight those women for Women's History Month," she said. "We definitely needed an entire month to plan. Choosing the women, finding iconic pictures of them that we could re-create, getting clothes, scouting locations. It was A LOT."
"Kids have a magical way of simplifying things that adults overcomplicate."
For Amber, the goal was simple: to teach Avery about the incredible women who paved the way for her. "The initial objective was to share some history with Avery and really empower her to dream big by teaching her about women who look like her that didn't let adversity stop them from doing amazing things," Amber explained. "Because I'm a photographer, naturally it was something I wanted to document. It was really her idea to start sharing them on her Instagram page."
Most importantly, Amber makes it a point to discuss the backstory of the women behind each photograph with her daughter. "After we learn about one of the women, I ask her what she thinks about them and use excerpts from her responses to make a caption for the posts," she said. "Kids have a magical way of simplifying things that adults overcomplicate, and I love how her responses are so beautifully simple. We hope to inspire people to discover people that they may have never heard of before. This project is all [Avery's], and she's proud of it."
Scroll ahead to get a look at the incredible photo project in honour of Women's History Month. And to see more of Amber's work, check out her Instagram page.
Avery Dressed Up as Ruby Bridges
Avery Dressed up as Althea Gibson
Avery Dressed Up as Bessie Coleman
Avery Dressed Up as Rosa Parks
Avery Dressed Up as Leotyne Price
Avery Dressed Up as Coretta Scott King
Avery Dressed Up as Meghan Markle
Avery Dressed Up as Michelle Obama
Avery Dressed Up as Amanda Gorman
Avery Dressed Up as Simone Biles
Avery Dressed Up as Dr. Mae Jemison
Avery Dressed Up as Misty Copeland
