The following is a guest post by Lucy Havens who recently interned at the Library in the Serial and Government Publications Division as a part of the Archives, History and Heritage Advanced Internship Program (AHHA).
While participating in the Library’s Archives, History, and Heritage Advanced Internship Program (AHHA), I had the privilege of contributing to the Library of Congress’ Of the People initiative by researching the representation of Black cartoon and comic creators in the Library’s Comic Book Collection. Like all media, cartoons and comics reflect society. In this blog, I highlight a handful of “firsts” in the history of Black and African American cartoons and comics, celebrating artists, writers, and publishers who have expanded the types of stories and characters a reader can find in newspaper comic strips and comic books.
First African American cartoonists
The earliest documented African American cartoonists are George Herriman and Adolphus Leslie Barreaux. They worked in the early 1900s and were mixed race but passed as White. Herriman is well known for his comic strips featuring Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse, which ran from 1913 to 1944. You can find reprint compilations of these comic strips edited by Bill Blackbeard and Alexander Braun in the Library of Congress collections. Barreaux is the first known African American to contribute to a comic book; he was the artist of “New Fun,” which you can find in the Library’s Comic Book Collection. This was the first comic book series published by the company that became DC Comics! “New Fun” #1 appeared in 1935.
The first known cartoonist to self-identify as African American is E. Simms Campbell. His “Cuties” cartoons were nationally syndicated by King Features Syndicate and appeared in Esquire, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post, among other periodicals. The Library has digitized one of these cartoons from the Prints and Photographs collections and has two reprint compilation books of Campbell’s “Cuties” cartoons: “Cuties in Arms” and “More Cuties in Arms.”
First comic with a Black superhero
Jay Paul Jackson reworked one of the first Black comic strips, “Bungleton Green,” to create the first Black superhero in a comic (strip or book!). “Bungleton Green” was initially created by Leslie Rogers and published in the “Chicago Defender” in 1920. In 1934, Jackson re-launched the comic strip as a sci-fi story set in the 21st century. The panels below are from the first run of this comic strip, introducing the audience to the new Bungleton Green character, who is a robot created by a scientist called Boc. Visit the Library to read the rest of Bungleton Green’s adventures in the microfilm collection of the “Chicago Defender” or in the compilation “Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos!”
First syndicated African American women cartoonists
Jackie Ormes is often considered the first nationally syndicated African American woman cartoonist. Even though her comic strips were not officially syndicated, with a syndicate distributing her works to newspapers, her work appeared regularly in issues of the “Pittsburgh Courier” and expanded to be included in a number of black newspapers across the country throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Her comic strips stood out because their protagonists were independent, career-oriented women.
One such protagonist is Torchy Brown. The comic strip was first published in the August 19, 1950 edition of the Pittsburgh Courier, its first edition with comic strips printed in color. You can read the full comic strip in the Library’s microfilm or research database collections of the “Pittsburgh Courier.” Some reprinted panels in color are also include in the book “Jackie Ormes: the first African American woman cartoonist.”
Barbara Brandon-Croft is the first African American woman cartoonist to have a comic strip officially syndicated in U.S. newspapers. You can view printings of her syndicated comic strip, “Where I’m Coming From,” online while onsite at the Library, including an original drawing in the Prints and Photographs collection. “Where I’m Coming From” was first published in 1989 and was syndicated from 1991-2005.
First Black comic book protagonist
The first comic book series to have a Black protagonist is “Lobo.” Lobo is the nickname given to the protagonist in the first issue of the series, which opens at the end of the Civil War. Lobo travels west in search of opportunity after fighting as a soldier in the Civil War. The panel below shows Lobo proving himself as a cowboy. Tony Tallarico, a Black artist, illustrated the “Lobo” series. You can read the two issues of “Lobo,” which were published by Dell Comics in 1965 and 1966, in the Library’s Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room.
First Black comic book publishers
In 1947, All-Negro Comics, Inc. published the first comic book by Black creators featuring an all-Black cast of characters: “All-Negro Comics.” The image below shows the inside cover page of the comic book with a message from the publisher, Orrin C. Evans. “All-Negro Comics” #1 opens with a detective story about two “zoot suiters” pictured in the opening panel. Though Evans had intended to publish more comic books, All-Negro Comics, Inc. only ever published this one issue.
In 1993, Milestone Media was founded with the same motivation: to create comic books by Black creators featuring Black characters. The company achieved greater success than its predecessor, publishing the comic book series “Hardware,” “Static,” “Blood Syndicate,” and “Icon,” among others. The panels below are from the first issue of “Hardware,” published in 1993. They depict the series’ protagonist, Curtis Metcalf, a.k.a. Hardware, fighting corruption in the fictional city of Dakota.
Milestone Media negotiated a publishing agreement with DC Comics where they retained the rights over their comic book series and DC Comics distributed the comic books to its already-large audience. That’s why if you visit the Library to read issues of “Hardware” or Milestone’s other comic book series, you will see both the Milestone Media and DC Comics logos on the covers.
First Black creator to be awarded the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award
Ray Billingsley is the first Black creator to receive the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society, which he received in 1920. This award is the Society’s biggest honor and is given to the person considered to be the “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.” You can read two compilations of Billingsley’s syndicated comic strip, “Curtis,” at the Library: “Curtis” and “Curtis: Twist and Shout.”
Conclusion
Before working at the Library of Congress, I wasn’t previously very knowledgeable of cartoons and comics. Researching historical and contemporary cartoons and comics for the AHHA Program brought my attention to how comics and cartoons reflect the evolving relationships between Americans of different heritage backgrounds. My research expertise is on the implications of social biases on data and data-driven technologies, such as AI, so my attention was particularly drawn to the ways that racial and gender biases have shaped the success a creator can achieve, as well as the types of stories that become popular in cartoons and comics. I hope this blog post can help raise awareness and appreciation for under-documented contributors to American cartoons and comics!
Additional Resources
If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Black cartoon and comic creators in the US, “The Encyclopedia of Black Comics” by Sheena C. Howard and “American Newspaper Comics: an Encyclopedic Reference Guide” by Allan Holtz are great sources to start with. To search for index records about comic book issues and stories, check out the Grand Comics Database.
Comments
Fascinating!