The Power of a Child: Patty-Jo and the Alternative Press

        I'm taking a communications class called "Media and Politics", in which we just finished a unit on the black alternative press, which was at its most popular during the first half of the 20th century. The two newspapers Jackie Ormes had written for--the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier--were the two most prominent papers of the movement, with the later reaching its peak circulation following World War I. The Courier was the first black newspaper to circulate nation-wide, and by 1920, was the most powerful black newspaper in the country. In a time in which white views and ideas dominated the headlines and papers that circulated most in the country, the black alternative press served as a weapon to fight back against the hegemonic power and hateful messages espoused in the mainstream press. The point of the alternative press was what it sounds like, providing alternate viewpoints to the dominant ideologies published in the white newspapers at the time. The Courier fulfilled this goal better than any other paper, as its hallmark of was its diversity of opinion, with pieces written by its 15 columnists--people from all races and walks of life.

        My point in including this information is that when I first read Patty-Jo and Ginger was the brutal honesty, truthfulness, and scathing nature of the Patty-Jo's remarks. When I read the brief background provided on the pdf for the comic, it made perfect sense that these comics were created for an alternative black press newspaper. Patty-Jo has the gift, just like every other child her age, of a blissful ignorance about the outside world that allows her to make observations and statements that cut right to the core of the issues at hand. These issues are grown-up made--power, racism, sexism--and her young age allows her to put a mirror up to these issues to show how absurd they really are. Patty-Jo is a great representative of the black alternative press, presenting the views of these issues that were not being circulated in the dominant white press at the time. The fact that she does so in a easy to read, simply written comic, rather than the long-form articles that made up the rest of the paper, makes her candidly true criticisms of the world even more impactful.