In 1963 Detroit, a 10-year-old girl named Melody is facing the realities of being black in America. She sees schools in her neighborhood that don’t have enough books for every student. She hears a white boy tell her to go back to Africa. When she goes to a department store, she is accused of shoplifting just for taking a dress off of a rack to look at it.
This is real, bracing history told in a family-friendly way through a TV special inspired by a doll.
“An American Girl Story — Melody 1963: Love Has to Win,” which debuts Friday on Amazon Prime, is the streaming site’s first original special. It stars Marsai Martin (who plays Diane Johnson on ABC’s “Black-ish”) as an inquisitive, creative child who finds a way to confront the racism of her world.
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