A Salute to Pioneering Cartoonists of Color, Cartoon Gallery 3

Pioneer Cartoon Gallery 3

During the segregated years of the 1900c through 1960s America, the Black Press offered comic strips that featured African American heroes & heroines in a wide variety of life situations. These characters were not confined to gritty 'inner-city' stories, poor 'ghetto' life or as one dimensional comic relief as today .

This gallery contains comic strips that were found on the pages of Black newspapers during 1923 through 1928. From 1900 until the mid 1920 the papers appear to use a mixture of illustrations, none of which outwardly reflected the Black community. I suspect this was either because little was available at the time, or perhaps it is as simple as, this was the taste of the Black community of the day. Graphics that were not photos were possibly borrowed from supportive 'mainstream' papers or purchased from a syndicate, which had no intentions of creating art reflecting African Americans that wasn't somehow derogatory in nature. (Amazingly some papers still used the sambo & mammy images alongside stories of prominent Black society !)

In some cases the name of the cartoonist is obscured, incomplete or simply not given, making it difficult to identify who was the creator of it. So, until more information is discovered about the artist to indeed truthfully claim him/her a cartoonist of Color, this gallery is only to present early comics that had a Black cast of characters.

Thanks to the Vivian Harsh Collection of Afro-American History located in the Carter G. Woodson Regional Branch of the Chicago Library for making the following images possible.

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

After the Honeymoon
by Geoff Hayes

"It Says here that opposites attract."

"I wonder?"

"Do you think it's true that opposites attract?"

"Of course I do you dumb-bell!"

Appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier, Saturday 12 May 1928

Aggravatin' Papa

by Anthony

(At the Sho-Card Sign shop.)

"That's just what I wanted!"

"I'm tired of being annoyed with Bess' company-- I think I've got a scheme that'll put a stop to it now"

"Maybe some nice young man will see this right here !"

(Sign reads, HUSBAND WANTED)

(The Next Day)

There is a line of men with flowers going from the door out of sight.

There was a cartoonist who apparently worked at the Pittsburgh Courier in the twenties that only signed his work Anthony. Until I do more research into the staff, it is not known just who he was. This cartoon apparently had a very short run. from October to November of 1924.

Appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier, 11 October, 1924

Amos Hokum (isn't taking any chances)
by Jim Watson

"Get dressed Amos, the Whist Club is going to meet here tonight."

"Well if that gang's comin' I'm gonna hide these umbrellas !"

"Dumbbell! You know there is no one in the Club that would steal our umbrellas!"

"Yeh, but what if they recognize `em ?"

Appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier, Saturday 16 June 1923.

Amos Hokum, 19 years later being drafted in to WW2

Postman: "Letter for Amos Q. Hokum!!"

Amos: "That's me!!"

Amos: "Gosh, if this is what I think it is--!!!?"

Nephew: "Whaddaya scared about Uncle Amos?"

Amos: "Lemme see: 'You are instructed to report to your local---!"

"I'M DRAFTED!!!"

This Amos Hokum strip, where he is drafted into the army appeared in the Baltimore Afro-American, 17 October 1942, meaning the comic strip has run for 19 years. Credit for the comic is given to James B. Watson, presumably the same artist who created & drew it in the 1920s. Next to Bungleton Green which ran for 43 years & Sonny Boy Sam which (from what evidence I've found so far) ran 32 year!

Amos Hokum, a strip by Jim Watson appears to have begun in the early 1920s, the earliest one found being 1923. In the twenties, it is a simple gag strip, ending with a punch line often with the wild take of someone falling over backwards or springing out of the panel altogether in a puff of smoke, much in the same vein of other comics of the day. similar in content and style as Mutt & Jeff, Happy Hooligan or Barney Google. No other samples have been found for the 1930s until the above strip appeared in a 1940s newspaper. At this point, Amos Hokum has become a continuity strip telling a complete story. Amos strikes it rich, buys a large yacht to entertain friends & it is sunk in a storm. His nephew (Whose name escapes me at this writing but will add it later) joins the story, following in his uncle's footsteps of get rich quick schemes & avoiding hard work --- however detouring to pursue women well beyond his age. When work becomes scares, Amos is drafted into the army & when his nephew sees the women in the army, puts on a false beard & enlists (beats me why nobody ever figured out that he was just a kid!) After a series of boot camp situations, the pair are shipped off to fight in the pacific. Amos seeks the enemy, while his nephew discovers a village of Polynesian girls. The strip seemed to disappear near the wrapping up of WW2 with the nephew being missing in action.

Hamm & Beans
by Gus Standard

"Oh gosh tomorrows work again- well I can't kick I had an enjoyable evenin'! Here comes Hamm and his sweetie!"

Woman: "Well hello Beans - and where might you have been all spruced up?"

Beans: "Just came from the 'Girlie Girlie Review'- baby some show!"

"They say its quite shocking- Is that so Beans?"

"I'll say it is- They had to lower the curtain every ten minutes to give the audience a chance to wink!!"

Appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier, 1928.

Henry and Mandy

by Horace Randolph

Woman:: "You is nothing but a lazy-loafing-good for nothing brute! Now get busy and wash them dishes!!"

Man:: "Well Honey you knows that when we got married you took me for better or worse!!"

Woman:: "Um-hum!! And I suppose you thinks that you am better-uh?"

Man:: "Yes indeed! I have often heard you say that I couldn't possilby be worse!"

This cartoon by the yet to be identified Horace Randolph appears to be a sad reversal of Black images on the pages of the Black press coming nearly 4 years after the above cartoons. Surprisingly Henry & Mandy is loaded with all the negative imagery seen in the 'mainstream' press. The so-called shiftless, lazy, hen-pecked Black man complete with the derogatory white space that serves as exaggerated lips on a solidly black face, being nagged by the overbearing, hands-on-her-hips mammy-type Black woman. Although she appears to have the man totally docile the stereotype is carried out completely by the added description of the Black man as a brute. It is unknown if, but very likely that Horace Randolph is himself Black. Then as now, many African Americans are very willing to get ahead at the expense of their own.

Little Mose

by Horace Randolph

Mose: "I only got two cents and that won't buy an apple!!"

(Dog with question mark over his head is looking at the sign which reads 2 cents each)

Mose:: "Umm! Umm! Apples! Just what I was wishing for !!"

Mose:: "Mom can I have an apple ?"

Woman:: "Yes dear take one and look out for worms !"

Mose:: "Don't you worry mom. When I eats an apple the worms have to look out for themself's!"

This cartoon by the yet to be identified Horace Randolph appears to be a sad reversal of Black images on the pages of the Black press coming nearly 4 years the comics After The Honey Moon, Hamm & Beans, Sambo Sims & Amos Hokum (1923), in that it relies heavily on the negative images of African Americans, reflecting those seen in the 'mainstream' dailies. the language in the cartoon does not rely upon the almost undecipherable dialect discussed in earlier Sonny Boy Sam, but is loaded with visual implications. Little Mose wants an apple which is clearly marked 2 cents each & he has 2 cents in his hand in panel one. But apparently he is even less literate than the dog who appears to understand what the sign is saying. He returns home (panel 2) to a sparse dilapidated tenement. The sort of imagery of Black life in comics (& TV) that endures to this day.

Amazingly enough, these two Horace Randolph cartoons & the Wilbert Holloway Sonny Boy Sam appear on the pages of the Pittsburgh Courier during their 1931 nation-wide petition campaign against the negative portrayal of Black Americans on the Amos `n Andy radio program !

Hoiman

by E. Simms Campbell

This 1937 King Features Syndicate comic strip, Hoiman, which I assume translates to Herman, drawn by E. Simms Campbell is presented as an example of how even some of our most accomplished African American artists were compelled to imitate the derogatory 'coon' images of the 'mainstream' White press in order to 'get paid.' Although E. Simms Campbell otherwise created pro-Black editorial cartoons for the Black press & illustrated beautiful color (in color - not of Color) pin-up girls for Esquire Magazine & gag comics for The Saturday Evening Post, Judge Magazine & Life. the only 'Black Life' comic strip the 'mainstream' would allow him to do further denigrates his own people with an image of the stereotypical servant for a White American audience.