New Barbie doll honors journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells

A new Barbie doll will be released to honour Black journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, toy-maker Mattel announced on Wednesday.

The doll is part of the Inspiring Women Series, which Mattel said honours historical and present-day role models for girls.

Ida B. Wells was the daughter of two formerly enslaved people who became one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

She was born in 1862 in Mississippi and died in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois.

The doll is dressed in a long, dark lace dress and is holding a miniature replica of the ‘Memphis Free Speech’ newspaper.

Wells became editor and co-owner of the newspaper in 1889, according to the Ida B. Wells Society.

The doll will be available from January 17, ahead of Black History Month, which is marked in the US in February.