Although every biography I've encountered was careful never to actually say that George Joseph Herriman, the creator of the classic comic strip Krazy Kat, was of African descent--- all were specific about his origins being Louisiana. A few admit that his parents were Creole (the debate rages on as to exactly what that is supposed to mean.)
Another biography states that although Herriman was vague & often conflicting with information about his background, someone went through the trouble to search the 1880s census to find his parents enumerated as Mulatto & that his birth certificate lists him as Negro.
I decided I too can play this game of taking only the information I want out of reality & carefully wording my conclusions to make the point I want people to understand. I will latch onto the biographies that allow me to to include George Herriman as a pioneering cartoonist of Color (since being of Color can be as non-specific as his star character's gender throughout the run of the comic strip Krazy Kat.)
Born in New Orleans, LA in 1880, the Herriman family felt
the oppressive stress of Southern segregation laws of the 1890s. George's
father, a tailor took his family from New Orleans to Los Angeles, CA to
(as one bio words it) avoid being classified as slaves. (Taking into account
the enslavement period should have ended in the legal sense before the 1890s---
I will assume this to be a carefully worded way of saying they fled the
South to avoid being labeled as 'Negro', 'colored' or Black, thus escaping
the indignities of the legalized system of racism.) George was ten years
of age at this time. (Note, there is no photo of George Herriman without
a hat on--- so his hair texture could never be used by separatists Americans
as a criteria for labeling him by any race than how he was 
presented. No doubt William Randolph Hearst, who owned the Krazy
Kat comics realized if the artist was ever associated as being Black during
the "Birth of a Nation" era of the Woodrow Wilson presidency,
readers would reject the comic strip too.)
Before turning to cartooning, which in the context of newspaper comic
strips specifically was still yet to make an impact in the United States,
Mr. Herriman worked at a number of odd jobs, ranging from a house painter,
barber, baker, grape seller, dairy farmer & a sideshow barker (announcer).
Cartooning was still in its early infancy in 1901 when Mr. Herriman began
submitting sketches to various newspapers. For the earlier part of his career,
he sold a wide variety of comics, such as sports & political cartoons.
By the mid-decade of the 1900s he turned to comic strips. Many of these
comics were shorts that ran for just a few days or weeks. Notable cartoons
include Baron Bean, & the Dingbat Family (later renamed
The 
Family Upstairs) The Family Upstairs,
a comic strip about the trials of an urban family suffering under the bizarre
behavior of the never-seen family in the apartment above them, is said to
be the earliest occurrence of a Krazy Kat-like situations. It was in the
bottom portion of a July 26, 1910 strip showing a mouse popping the Dingbat's
cat 'up-side' the head with a pebble. Mr. Herriman continued to feature
this mouse assaulting the cat theme in the Family Upstairs strip
as a way to fill up empty space. Soon, by popular demand, the cat &
mouse got their own story in a small row under the main strip. At the end
of 1913, Krazy Kat became an independent comic strip. It was at it's
most popular during World War 1.
Many say that the surrealistic humor of Krazy Kat went over the heads of most readers. Event the dialogue was different, employing a sort of patois reflective of his Creole background & based upon diverse linguistics borrowed from Native Americans, African Americans, Spanish, Latin, Shakespearean, poetic verse & Yiddish. Added to this amalgam of language, Mr. Herriman had his own unique way of spelling it. Often each panel of Krazy Kat became an individual work of art, irregardless of what the strip as a whole was doing (At times the scenic, southwestern desert styled background inexplicably changes even though the characters in the foreground are not moving.) with stylized text or soliloquies written below or around each frame.
In 1935 color became part of most newspapers & Mr. Herriman met the
challenging new dimension in cartooning with as much creativity as he put
into his dialogue. His use of colors were as uniquely surreal as the comic.
The ground & sky could be purple or golden as well as green. Hills &
buttes could appear stripped or polka-dotted. His scenery became more geometric
in form as well as the characters themselves. (Some say this was due to
his severe arthritis.)
By the latter part of the thirties, Krazy Kat's popularity drops off, but it maintained a cult following among poets, artists, Jazz musicians & writers. One important fan was newspaper mogul, William Randolph Hearst whose syndicate company, King Features Syndicate published Krazy. Hearst, a very powerful figure of his time was known to personally 'speak' to editors of his newspapers thus preventing Krazy Kat from disappearing from Hearst papers.
Mr. Herriman married in July of 1902. Two daughters were born of this
union. During this time, the family made yearly meccas to Arizona from Los
Angeles. He had a fondness for the color & majesty of Monument Valley
& the painted desert in Coconino County (& all these years I thought
Koconino Co. was a made up place that Krazy & Ignatz lived--- it sounded
so cartoony!) The American Southwest was obviously the inspiration for the
settings of the comic strip. In 1934, Mr. Herriman suffers the loss of his
wife Mabel (not to be confused with his daughter Mabel nicknamed Toots).
Then his younger daughter Bobbie (Barbara) in 1939. He never remarried &
lived out his life drawing & 
painting in the
company of an assorted menagerie of real-life dogs & cats. He continued
to perform the work he loved until his death in 1944.
Krazy Kat continues
to be popular 54 years later on T-shirts (I haven't seen the film myself,
but I hear Samuel L. Jackson wears a Krazy Kat tee in Pulp Fiction
), merchandising & collector toys. I encountered over 30 internet
web sites devoted to it.
Krazy Kat images & likenesses are the property of King Features Syndicate
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