Pioneer Cartoon Gallery 6

The Editorial Cartoons

Just like the in the 'mainstream' press, from the earliest pages of the Black press there have been editorial pages. These publications also carried an editorial cartoon.

The editorial cartoonist of the Black press had the same skills in draftsmanship, humor & social awareness as did his 'mainstream' counterparts, but also had the task of illustrating delicate topics such as segregation, lynching, poll taxes, & race hatred. Topics that were also exposed in the 'mainstream,' yet since their audience was largely the African American community, they were freer to point a finger at who or what they saw as the oppressive problem faced by Black Americans.

Often unmentioned in most comic histories as if it were of no consequence, is the work of over a dozen cartoonists & the editorials they produced. In the Black press, unlike the 'mainstream,' there didn't exist a bullpen of artists & assistant artists to keep cartoons & comics coming out on schedule. There was often only one artist who not only drew the editorial comic, but various other cartoons for the paper as well, as you will see when names are repeated from the earlier galleries. Still a few cartoons which I found to be unique in the illustration of a particular problem, but have no identifying name of the artist. This is probably the result of a smaller paper which had no cartoonist of its own "clipping"--- or borrowing the cartoon from a larger paper, & as is unfortunately still practiced today-- conveniently removed the name & dates from the cartoon.

Thanks to the Vivian Harsh Collection of Afro-American History located in the Carter G. Woodson Regional Branch of the Chicago Library-- I am able to present the cartooning work of our Pioneering Cartoonists of Color.

Copyright Notice !

Pioneering Cartoonists of Color is a publication of Creative License Studio Inc. Copyright © 1998 by Tim Jackson. All rights reserved worldwide. Original cartoons used in cartoonist's biographies are copyright © of the featured artists.

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The Editorial Cartoonists of the Black Press

Many of the cartoons found in the earliest years often were accompanied by an editorial article, giving credit to the artist who also drew the cartoon above it. If the articles were indeed written by the editorial cartoonist & not simply by one of the editors of the publication, it adds just one more job to the task the cartoonist had at a Black-owned paper.

Until about the 1940s there was just one staff artist & he was responsible for the editorial cartoon, the various spot illustrations for a featured short story or serial, sometimes even the ads. If the paper also carried a comic strip, the same person drew this too. After the war (WW2) when so many Black men were drafted into service, papers found themselves shy a cartoonist, & the old-timers were brought out of retirement or new youngsters got that first break. The papers appeared to keep at least one other person on staff to handle the art load through the 1960s, where many dropped back to just one cartoonist or none at all save the work of freelancers. Here are samples of Pioneering Editorial cartoons of the Black press.
(illustration left by Chester Commodore, 1955)

Warning: the subject matter may be a bit strong for those who have no historical understanding to the past.

(I regret that due to efforts to keep file sizes small, many of the cartoons may be difficult to read.)

Charles H. Alston, Editorial from the Chicago Bee Newspaper 1943. "Still a Weapon for Freedom" an editorial cartoon commemorating 116 years of the Black Press. the caption reads: "The first Negro newspaper, "Freedom's Journal," was founded in 1827 by John B. Russworm."

I have been asked what the letters OWI that some times appears on editorial comics (below Alston's signature) mean. It stands for Office of War Information, meaning the comic has been approved by the War department when making certain references to WW2 activities & depiction of the 'enemy.' A book by Semus Culhane, an animater for Disney, Walter Lantz & Flecher Brothers Studios among many commented on how the Dept of Defence had problems with the enemy being dipeicted too foolish, causing Americans not to take the war seriously. So special approval was sometimes requried before art went out to the public.

From Semus (Shamus) Culhane's biography, "Talking Animals and Other People"

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave has become the hiding place of the sneaking , the cowardly, the MAN LOWER DOWN! Pilgrim Fathers! They deeds are forever eclipsed!"

--Hutchinson (first name remains elusive). "The Long, Hard Way Up" Pittsburgh Courier, 1923. The illustration shows a young Black student climbing up the road to success, while burdened down with a large bolder labeled "prejudice," "hatred," "Jim Crow"

Ralph Mathews, "A Tale of Two Cities", The Baltimore Afro-American, 1944. A war-time commentary. The illustration captioned Rome, Italy shows a flag-toting American parading in a tank waving to the crowd saying: "Cheer up Romans, we bring you freedom & Democracy!" In the lower illustration captioned Rome, Georgia. In the background a Black man is hanging by his neck from a tree, while in the foreground the gun-toting man is saying: "Yeah! But don't try to bring any of that STUFF down here!"

The story that goes along with the cartoon reads: The impact of world events came in such rapid succession this week that they practically tramped on one another's heels. Before we could recover from the fall of Rome, the long-awaited invasion of Fortress Europe was launched. When the above cartoon was drawn we were playing on names, because back in our mind was the name of Rome, Ga., for it was here that the internationally known tenor, Roland Hayes, an outstanding [B]lack American, was recently clubbed and beaten by Georgia cops because his wife failed to sit in the rear of a dingy shoe store. This was mob violence in uniform so typical of the South. While our boys were dying on the beaches of France on D Day, in an all-out effort to crush Nazism and race hatred, the great leaders of Georgia where busy brewing up schemes to maintain "white supremacy" by defying the Supreme Court of the United States. As the nation prayed, mothers wept, and our boys died, the State of Georgia solemnly issued orders to all election officials advising them to par all colored voters form the Democratic primaries on July 12, on the grounds that the Supreme Court ruling in the Texas primary case did no apply to Georgia. Things like this make us think that our boys are spilling their blood on the wrong side of the Atlantic.

George Mercer, "Don't Look Now, but Somebody's Behind You!" The Baltimore Afro-American, 1942. During the WW2 conflict, the Southern politicians were busy finding new ways of oppressing Black citizens, while the Japanese military launched attacks on the United States. The Black man is tied to a sign reading "All Out for Victory." The ropes are labeled: "Segregation," Poll Tax," "Lynching," & "Exclusion from War Work."

Leslie Rogers, "The Reaction to Real Life and 'Reel' Life." Chicago Weekly Defender, 1934 (reprinted by request).

While America reacts to 'Salacious Movies' with comments like: 'Vulgar!', 'Horrible!!,' 'Savagery!!!!,' 'Sinful!,' 'The Church must act!' Federal laws were enacted to put an end to scenes of sex in movies. While at the same time outside a window labeled "Brutal Facts" before the same crowd is a Black man hanged from a tree. No one in the room, including Uncle Sam pays this any mind even while another Black man in the audience points out to them, "--But you're overlooking THAT!!"

Francis Yancy, That's All, Brother" the Baltimore Afro- American, 1944.

Disrespecting the Black vote during the 1944 Democratic Convention, as illustrated by the donkey at the pay-off window handing out rewards to voters. The District of Columbia receives the privilege to vote, women attain "Equal Rights," Jewish citizens gain Palestine as a new homeland. But the 'Colored' voters (last in line) is handed a bag of peanuts (nothing) for their faithful support for the Democratic Party. Over 50 years later...Some things remain the same!

Speaking of things never changing, the artist of this 1943 Baltimore Afro-American editorial cartoon is unknown (possibly clipped from some other paper) I find the subject intriguing in light of the "Tuskegee Experiment" disclosures & President Clinton's historic apology on behalf of the American government which sanctioned it. "Just a Guinea Pig" shows the hapless lab animal labeled "1400 Colored Soldiers" being injected by a large needle labeled "U.S. Army Sulfa-Drug Experiment."

I will admit that I am not fully informed about this incident, but I have heard about it, & will attempted to gather more information to include in later publication of this image.

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Copyright Notice !

Pioneering Cartoonists of Color is a publication of Creative License Studio Inc. Copyright © 1998 by Tim Jackson. All rights reserved worldwide. Original cartoons used in cartoonist's biographies are copyright © of the featured artists.