Racial Justice

From the rise of the black newspaper comic strips in the mid-century century to contemporary graphic novels about the black experience, comics’ narratives have touched on racial justice for decades. Black and white publishers used comics during the postwar period as a way to educate the public about civil rights. As the struggle for civil rights became a movement, newspaper cartoonists such as Ollie Harrington and Jackie Ormes provided a vivid critique of racism and illustrated a black vision of success. Famously EC Comics published horror, suspense, science fiction, military fiction, and crime comic book stories about the dangers of prejudice and discrimination. Comics’ ability to educate means creators and publishers have used them consistently to explore racial justice. Ho Che Anderson’s three-volume King (1993-2002) explored the man behind the myth of Martin Luther King. Recent work such as The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of Slave’s Journey from Bondage to Freedom (2018) revisits the iconic life of the most famous black American of the 19th century. The comics in this display connect these disparate strains and highlight the message of racial justice is not defined solely by African Americans striving for freedom.