Black history month
At SAW, we stand with those who have put their lives on the line for generations to fight for equal rights, equal footing, equal safety, and equal expression. We want to use our platform to amplify Black comics artists from the past and present who make innovative, joyful, reflective comics that are changing the world.
From our home base in Gainesville, FL, we witness firsthand the blatant political censorship and suppression of education on critical race theory in Florida, across the US, and beyond. So-called leaders have launched a crusade to slash Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in the name of white fragility and supremacy, and specifically anti-Black racism.
We recognize that DEI alone is insufficient to repair the deep racism, violence, and structural oppression that has shaped the United States and continues to harm Black, Indigenous, people of color. In such a political climate, however, we believe it’s more important than ever to resist these attempts to erase history and further entrench racial discrimination.
This shortest month of the year is hardly sufficient to celebrate the impact Black creators have had on comics and the world. We hope you will join us in celebrating and supporting Black comics and cartoonists both now and always!
First up: Barbara Brandon-Croft
Barbara Brandon-Croft is an American cartoonist best known for creating the comic strip Where I'm Coming From, and for being the first nationally syndicated African-American female cartoonist.
From Brandon-Croft about her achievements: “Cartoonist, fact checker, chocoholic. I became the nation’s first Black woman cartoonist to cross the color line into the mainstream press in 1989 with my cartoon feature Where I’m Coming From, which first appeared in The Detroit Free Press. In 1991 Universal Press Syndicate began distributing my strip in more than sixty mainstream newspapers internationally until 2005. I continue to put pen to page to offer my brand of social commentary online post syndication, mostly out of necessity.”
While comics have appeared in print since the late 1800s, it wasn’t until 1989 that “Black women characters drawn by a Black woman’s hand have been given a voice on the comics page in the mainstream press,” says Brandon-Croft. Thirty-four years ago, her comic strip, “Where I’m Coming From,” was first published in the Detroit Free Press. Two years later—after she published an incisive letter about the lack of diversity in comics—Brandon-Croft’s work was picked up by the Universal Press Syndicate, making her the first Black woman to have her work nationally syndicated in mainstream newspapers.
“Where I’m Coming From” follows a cast of nine Black women as they discuss relationships, sexism, and racism. The stories are about “exposing what life is like from a perspective that is so often overlooked, ignored, or marginalized,” says Brandon-Croft. “And I take pride in having a cast of cartoon characters who are not caricatures.”
You can find more of Brandon-Croft’s work here.
Next we’re celebrating Bianca Xunise!
Bianca Xunise is an American cartoonist, illustrator, and self-described "goth of color." In 2020, they became the second Black woman* after Barbara Brandon-Croft contributing to a nationally syndicated strip, for their work in Six Chix.[5][6] Xunise is also the first nonbinary cartoonist to be nationally syndicated. (*Xunise has since come out as nonbinary.)
Xunise earned an Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent for their comic Say Her Name, an autobiographical story of police brutality and social justice. In 2020, Xunise earned their second Ignatz Award for their contribution to Be Gay, Do Comics published by IDW.
They credit their professional start in comics to the online community for women HelloGiggles, which gave them a column in 2015. Xunise also has work featured in The Washington Post, Riot Fest, Vogue, Hello Giggles, The Nib, and Shondaland.
In 2024, Xunise published their debut graphic novel, Punk Rock Karaoke, which they call a “love letter to Chicago punks.” The comic highlights the importance of community and the beauty of the punk scene, often dismissed as self-destructive but really a bastion of mutual aid and intergenerational connection.
From Xunise: “Happy Black History Month to PUNK ROCK KARAOKE 🤘🏾🤘🏾🤘🏾which has been nominated for a 56th annual @naacpimageawards!!!! HOLY MACARONI. It means so much for stories about black and brown punk kids to be recognized by my community. All too often growing up was I told that I wasn’t “black enough” or that I must love “white people shxt” for my love of rock n roll but I always knew like so many great American cultural inventions rock n roll was always BLACK.
In writing Punk Rock Karaoke I wanted to tell our story. Black as hell, punk as hell, real as hell. I got tired of begging my favorite auteurs to represent me in their art and realized I have a voice of my own that I can use to tell my story… If you haven’t grabbed a copy of the best of Chicago AND NAACP nominated comic book Punk Rock Karaoke, why the heck not???”
Get your copy HERE!
Next we’re sending some love to Keith Knight!
Keith Knight, beloved “Gentleman Cartoonist,” is best known for his comic strips The K Chronicles, (th)ink, and The Knight Life. Keef’s work is recognized for its humor and accessibility while also engaging in political and racial issues.
Hulu also produced a sitcom based on The K Chronicles and Knight’s work, called Woke, which debuted in 2020 and ran until 2022. Keith was the co-writer, co-creator, and an executive producer of the show.
Knight has been making comics since elementary school, but he began working as a professional cartoonist in the 1990s, publishing The K Chronicles and then (th)ink in various outlets, papers, and websites.
He has won numerous awards for his work, including the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip and an Inkpot Award for career achievement at San Diego Comic-Con. Additionally, in 2015, Knight was honored by the NAACP as a History Maker, saying Knight's "ability to inspire conversation and action through his comic strips is a testament to the power art can have on a movement, and a shining example for all those looking for their unique way to make change in the world."
Knight also does public speaking with comic strip slideshows addressing racial illiteracy, police brutality, and anti-Black racism.
Keef has recently started teaching his own classes! He emphasizes drawing loosely and freely and telling your own personal, authentic story, because those often have the most universal appeal and resonance with folks even if they don’t perfectly relate.
Check out his one-on-one mentoring, and keep an eye on his Instagram for announcements of online classes and in-person workshops in the NC Triangle. And hear Keith speak about his illustrious comics career himself in our recent Pro-Call!
Last but not least: John Jennings!
John Jennings is a professor, author, graphic novelist, curator, Harvard Fellow, New York Times Bestseller, 2018 Eisner Winner, and “all-around champion of Black culture.”
As Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at UC Riverside, Jennings examines the visual culture of race in various media including film, illustrated fiction, and comics. Jennings’ current projects include the horror anthology Box of Bones, the coffee table book Black Comix Returns (with Damian Duffy), and the Eisner-winning, Bram Stoker Award-winning, New York Times best-selling graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s classic dark fantasy novel Kindred. Check out his graphic novelization of Octavia Butler's prescient dystopian novel Parable of the Sower.
Beyond his comics work and research, Jennings has been a major community pillar in the comics world. He is the founder and director of Abrams ComicArts imprint Megascope, which publishes graphic novels focused on the experiences of people of color.
Moreover, Jennings is co-editor of the 2016 Eisner Award-winning collection The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art (Rutgers) and co-founder and organizer of The Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem. He is also co-founder and organizer of the MLK NorCal’s Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco and also SOL-CON: The Brown and Black Comix Expo at the Ohio State University.
Jennings is an exemplar of a cartoonist deeply engaging in the artform from both a theoretical and practical perspective, and a testament to the power comics have to examine and shape our social relationship to race and to imagine better worlds now and for the future.
“John Jennings taught me about Afrofuturism in comics and it was fucking awesome. He is a well of knowledge.” —Carly Shooster
BONUS: INTERNATIONAL CARTOONISTS
Black History Month is an American tradition, but there is so much rich art being created by Black artists from other countries. Transnational solidarity and international connections are so important to our fight for liberation for all. All our struggles are intertwined!
Spotlighting: Marguerite Abouet
Writer Marguerite Abouet was born in the Yopougon area of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. At age 12, she moved to Paris, where she completed her education. Abouet worked as a legal assistant while beginning her career as a novelist and writer of graphic novels. The first book in her acclaimed graphic novel series Aya, Aya de Yopougon, was published in 2005. Illustrated by Clément Oubrerie, the series follows the life of a teenage girl in Abidjan in the late 1970s. Abouet has said in interviews that she hopes to portray a more realistic vision of Africa through the Ayabooks: “As an African person living in France, I don’t want to see how badly the media represents the Ivory Coast,” Abouet told John Zuarino. “The African people have enough of these very bad, miserable images of Africa that the media will show.”
“Oubrerie’s style animates both the broadly funny and painfully grave moments in Abouet’s rhythmic slice-of-life storytelling.” —The Washington Post
Aya: Love in Yop City comprises the final three chapters of the Aya story, episodes never before seen in English. Aya is a lighthearted story about life in the Ivory Coast during the 1970s, a particularly thriving and wealthy time in the country's history.
While the stories found in Aya: Love in Yop City maintain their familiar tone, quick pace, and joyfulness, we see Aya and her friends beginning to make serious decisions about their future. When a professor tries to take advantage of Aya, her plans to become a doctor are seriously shaken, and she vows to take revenge on the lecherous man. With a little help from the tight-knit community of Yopougon though, Aya comes through these trials stronger than ever.
This second volume of the complete Aya includes unique appendices—recipes, guides to understanding Ivorian slang, street sketches, and concluding remarks from Marguerite Abouet explaining history and social milieu. Inspired by Abouet's childhood, the series has received praise for offering relief from the disaster-struck focus of most stories set in Africa. Aya is the winner of the Best First Album Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival; was nominated for the YALSA's Great Graphic Novels list; and was included on "best of" lists from The Washington Post, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.
You can find Aya and more of Oubrerie’s work by clicking here.
And (actually) finally: Khalid Albaih
Sudanese cartoonist Khalid Albaih was lauded as “an artist of the revolution” during the Arab Spring, and now he’s pointing his pencil at other world events.
Based in Qatar, Albaih used social media to disseminate his cartoons about the fight for democracy in his native Sudan as well as other parts of the Arab world. Activists on the ground have stenciled his work on cement walls from Cairo to Damascus.
His Facebook page “Khartoon!” (a play on Sudan’s capital Khartoum) takes on other targets, including the recent FIFA corruption case and the continuing African migrant crisis.
Albaih’s work is on display in an exhibit called “It’s Not Funny” at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, until July 30. Art Beat interviewed him at Sankofa Video Books & Cafe in Washington, D.C., in May.
From Albaih in an interview with PBS: “It’s about education first. I want to tell people what’s going on. I read a lot and then hope to let people know what I think about what’s going on. The second thing is creating dialogue, asking questions.
“Is this really happening? What do you think about? I’m not saying I’m right, but if I’m wrong, tell me so we can talk about it.
“The great thing about social media is people talk to each other. People from different parties talk to one another. A person from the Muslim brotherhood will engage with a communist, and down the thread they become friends. They talk to each other. This is what we need in the region, people to talk to each other rather than to talk with guns.
“It’s creating the feeling we can talk about our problems, accept the other opinion, and of course, push boundaries. I don’t know what the red line is so I keep pushing it to see what I can do.
“Being a Muslim and living in a Muslim region, there are certain things you don’t talk about, but you find a way to do it a different way to be accepted. Because we are used to censorship, you have to talk about things indirectly.”
You can find more of Albaih’s work here.
