This month, one million girls around the country will be invited to take the Pretty Brown Girl pledge to honor their gifts and beauty within, as well as encourage cultural awareness through service and recognition.

"Even though our country is statistically becoming more culturally diverse, we still have a long road ahead of us in ensuring our young brown girls feel comfortable in their own skin," says Pretty Brown Girl Founder Sheri Crawley. "My husband and I noticed that despite the representation of strong African American females in our daughters' lives, they were still drawn to assume white dolls and characters were ‘prettier’. We wanted to create a movement to show them how pretty brown skin is and recognize this important message."

This trend and the need for self-esteem and positive self-images in children can be demonstrated from a report by Anderson Cooper on a recent CNN study conducted by renowned child psychologist and University of Chicago professor Margaret Beale Spencer, a leading researcher in the field of child development. Spencer's test aimed to re-create the landmark Black Doll Test from the 1940s conducted by Doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark.

Established in 2010, Pretty Brown Girl's mission is to empower girls to love themselves, help develop strong self-esteem and encourage cultural awareness. The Pretty Brown Girl brand encourages girls everywhere that love to have fun, learn, play, laugh and are happy in their own skin. The website offers "Pretty Brown Girl" branded products which include the book, Pretty Brown Girl, First Day of School by Sheri Crawley, apparel and accessories all branded with the Pretty Brown Girl logo. This fall the anticipated Signature Pretty Brown Girl, an African American Doll will be available.

The Pretty Brown Girl pledge and products can be found at www.prettybrowngirl.com.