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Julie Albright
Circa: 1970s
Location: San Francisco, CA
The only perpetually sober hippie in San Francisco during the 1970s, Julie is the most modern American Girl doll in the canon.
When her parents divorced, Julie struggled with the adjustment from her old life to this new one, especially since she does not know anyone else whose parents are separated. Luckily for her though, the separation seems to be amicable and Julie is excited at the prospect of two birthdays and Christmases.
Julie attends school prior to the implementation of Title IX, so her choices for after-school activities are limited to the traditionally gendered options. Despite this, she dreams of playing on the basketball team. There is, of course, no girls team, but she is given the opportunity to try out instead for the boys team. This garners her some heckling and snickers from her male peers, but she impresses the coach with her dribbling and blocking skills to make the team.
Her mother owns a clothing store in downtown San Francisco (which is incredibly impressive then and now), which Julie and her elder sister live above and occasionally help out at. She loves to craft with her family and even made an entire tree’s worth of decorations alongside them the first time they spend Christmas apart from her father.
Julie’s bestie is Ivy Ling, who she enjoys spending time with outside on nice days and spending hours on the phone. After Julie moved in with her mom, they now go to separate schools. One January, the Ling family includes Julie in their Chinese New Year’s celebration, where she enjoys learning more about her friends' culture and family history.
Julie is passionate about environmentalism, disability rights and the “new” ideas of feminism. A bit of a “tree hugger” (complementary), Julie admires activists such as Shirley Chrisholm and Judy Heumann. She cannot pick a favorite color and instead alternates between red and purple, but also blue, green, pink and yellow.
If Julie is your favorite, you prefer to make the best out of any situation you find yourself in, constantly seeking reconciliation between opposing parties and desire for everyone to get along.
Undoubtedly, you care about intersectionality and environmentalism–you probably went through a Vegan phase or have adopted the lifestyle for good. You love the Little House on the Prairie TV show (especially Pa’s biceps), and you keep a journal (though sometimes you forget to regularly write in it).
One day, you would like to be president. Okay maybe not president of all things, but definitely someone who fights for the “little guy” and shares the value of learning about different cultures.
