Happy Birthday, Addy!

A photo of Connie Porter, author of the American Girl series on Addy Walker; Blake Changnon, president, CEO and founder of The Changnon Family Museum of Toys and Collectibles; and Addy Walker.

A note from our president, CEO and founder, Blake Changnon:

April 9 is a special day in the American Girl community. Today is Addy Walker’s birthday.

Not only do I want to recognize Addy on her birthday for how important her character and story are to the American Girl community (and quite frankly to the entire world), but I want to celebrate and recognize the woman behind Addy’s stories, her author, Connie Porter.

Connie is responsible for the character and her story that we have come to love and adore. I am blessed to call her a dear and close personal friend.

As Connie wrote last year on Addy’s 30th anniversary, “I wanted to give Addy a voice. I saw her, and still see her as representing a life among the millions of lives of enslaved people who were nameless, faceless and voiceless. Addy’s life mattered.”

Given our current political climate, some groups want to minimize the importance of African American voices. Instead, now is the time for our country to embrace and learn more about African American history.

I hope that many of the visitors to our virtual exhibit, “Addy Walker: Why She Matters,” will learn more about Addy and her time and understand why her life and stories matter.

To Connie: Thank you for creating a character that so many of us have come to love and for telling her important story to the world. Thank you for being there for me too.

To Connie: Thank you for creating a character that so many of us have come to love and for telling her important story to the world.