Waaaaay before its time (...with 6 a's)

The first installment of the Torchy Brown editorial comic strip was in May of 1937. This poignant and insightful strip quickly rose to prominence, but was not able to maintain public admiration for very long. In order to better understand the impact of Jackie Ormes and Torchy Brown, my blog post is interested in the political landscape of this era.

Although the goals of the civil rights movement still resonate within our modern society, most historians date the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1968. As a quick refresher, it wasn't until the mid-late 1960's that the federal government fully acknowledge the equality of African Americans in a whole host of contexts. It is critically important to recognize that discrimination in the workplace based on race was common-place and permissible until 1964, nearly 30 years AFTER the emergence of Torchy Brown. This  enigmatic, educated and self-confident black WOMAN was popular before Brown vs. Board of Education, before blacks had equal voting rights and before most college and universities even accepted large swaths of African-American students.

It is then unsurprising that Torchy Brown was not popular for long. It was said it class that Torchy was before her time, but this is a grave understatement. Only recently have black female actresses received lead roles in television and major motion pictures (the first black woman to win an academy award for best actress was Hallie Berry in 2002, almost 70 years later!). In fact, I would argue that the Torchy's success must have come as complete shock to even Jackie Ormes, and speaks to her skill and creativity as a graphic artist/cartoonist. I am thrilled that we are taking the time to analyze such an often overlooked yet wildly transformative publication.