Representation in the arts matters, as evidenced by presence of rising stars Nilah Magruder, the first Black woman to write for Marvel Comics, and Aphton Corbin, a storyboard artist for Pixar. These talented women have their own respective creative influences, but Jackie Ormes, the first Black nationally syndicated woman cartoonist, certainly paved the way.
Ormes was born Zelda Jackson on August 1, 1911 in Pittsburgh, Penn. After high school, Ormes took a job with “The Pittsburgh Courier” as a proofreader, eventually moving to writing and reporting in 1930. In 1937, Ormes produced the comic strip “Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem,” which followed the life of a Mississippi teenager hoping to make it big as a singer at the famed Cotton Club.
Ormes and her husband, accountant Earl Ormes, settled in Chicago where she worked as a writer for “The Chicago Defender,” producing the comic strip “Candy” in 1945. (READ MORE)
