Yla Eason’s three-year-old son was playing with action figures like usual, when he looked up to ask her a question that shook her. Was it true, he asked, that he could never be a superhero because he’s Black?
Heartbroken, she had to do SOMETHING. And what she did changed the lives of countless Black kids across the country.
Eason created Sun-Man, a Black superhero powered by the sun who used his intelligence and self-confidence to defeat the bad guys – a purposeful design by Eason to inspire the same feelings in Black children everywhere! But she didn’t stop there.
In 1985, she also created Olmec Toys, and developed an entire line of toys so that Black children could see themselves in the worlds they were creating. There’s an Afrofuturist scientist named Holographo and Digitino, a numerical genius.
In 2021, Mattel re-released Sun-Man into their action figure lineup. And soon, he’ll debut as an animated character on a new Netflix series!
Our community must commit to uplifting our children in a way that this white-washed world refuses to – the future depends on it!