colorful-history:

Jackie Ormes (1911-1985) was the first nationally syndicated African-American female cartoonist. She started as an editor for a weekly African American newspaper called the Pittsburgh Courier, and in 1937 the paper began publishing her Torchy Brown comics. In 1942 she moved to Chicago and worked as a columnist for the popular newspaper the Chicago Defender, in which her one panel comic series Candy became published. In 1945 she resumed working at the Courier; this time she would publish her Patty-Jo ‘n’ Ginger comic, which would run for 11 years. In 1947, Growing tired of offensive stereotypical dolls, she would turn her character Patty-Jo into the first upscale African American doll. In 1950 Ormes would revive her Torchy Brown comics; these were featured in color print and included fashion dolls. All of Ormes’s characters defied the popular stereotype of black women at the time by featuring intelligent, stylish, and independent black women.