Jackie Ormes: First African-American Woman Syndicated Cartoonist

Jackie Ormes (b. 8/1/1911 - d. 12/26/1985)

Jackie Ormes was born Zelda Mavin Jackson in Monogahela, Pennsylvania on August 1, 1911 to parents William Winfield Jackson and Mary Brown Jackson. Her family owned and operated a printing business and a movie theater that served the Pittsburgh community up until 1917 when her father died in a motor vehicle accident. Ormes was certainly influenced by this family tradition in printing and entertainment as she would later become the first African-American woman syndicated cartoonist in the United States.

Ormes began her journalism career in 1930 at the Pittsburgh Courier as a proofreader, later covering the police beat and other community stories. A year after marrying Earl Ormes in 1936 -- whom she would be married to for 45 years, until his death -- her big break as a comic strip artist unfolded. From 1937 to 1938, the weekly Pittsburgh Courier started publishing her first comic strip Torchy Brown in "Dixie to Harlem," a humorous depiction of a Mississippi teen who found fame and fortune singing and dancing in the Cotton Club.

Image of Torcy Brown comic strip by Jackie Ormes

In 1942, Ormes and her husband would move to Chicago. As a woman, she was a trailblazer in becoming a syndicated cartoonist because such professional opportunities were very limited for women of any race. In addition to the Pittsburgh Courier, her work would also be featured in the widely circulated Chicago Defender.  In Chicago, Ormes developed the Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger and Candy comic strips. The Candy comic strip ran for four months in the Chicago Defender, while Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger ran for 11 years. During this time, Ormes also published a social column and wrote special assignment pieces for the newspaper.

 Even for the casual observer, it is apparent that African American cartoonist Jackie Ormes modeled some of her beautiful female characters after herself.

Image: collectible Patty Jo doll from work of Jackie Ormes

Ormes' work later developed into other mediums of expression for her characters, such as the mass production of the Black doll modeled after her Patty Jo character. In 1947, this doll was launched and accompanied by a trove of elegantly styled clothing for the delight of youngsters. She also developed the "Torchy Togs" paper doll series.

While creating a comic strips can seem a very non-political endeavor, Ormes' work included social and political satire that landed her on the FBI's investigation list during the McCarthy era. She bravely addressed racial injustice, as well as domestic and foreign policy related to equality, environmental pollution and war issues. Ormes retired in 1956, ending the eleven year run of the Patty Jo 'n' Ginger comic strip. She remained active, however, within the African American community in Chicago through her services with the Chicago Urban League and Clarence Darrow Community Center.

The great number of Jackie Ormes papers are now housed as The DuSable Museum of African American history through a project funded by the Black Metropolis Research Consortium "Color Curtain Processing Project." The papers span from 1938-1985, reflecting her professional and social life in Chicago during that period.

Black Chicago Commemorates the 85th Annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic




Everyone who is anyone is said to have participated in the Bud Billiken parade -- from Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Barack Obama. Photo: Joe Lewis in Bud Billiken Parade.

August 9, 2014 marks the 85th annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic celebration -- commencing from 35th to 55th & Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Held in Chicago, Illinois annually, the parade is the oldest running African American parade in the United States of America. It is also the second largest parade in the country. Effectively, the parade, kicks off the traditional start of the school year. It marks the end of summer vacation for the young people in the Chicago, which hosts among the largest communities of people of African descent in the USA.



Portion of the Bud Billiken Day Parade, August 1948.

Portion of the Bud Billiken Day Parade, August 1973.



South Shore Drill Team performs at the 2011 Bud Billiken parade in Chicago's Bronzeville. (Photo: Kalle Eko)

The fictional character Bud Billiken was created in 1923 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott, the founder of the Chicago Defender newspaper. Before the parade began in 1929, there was a long-running Billiken newspaper column written by the famed African-American novelist Willard Motley. Embodying the hope of the African American community, for a time the Bud Billiken character also emerged into a popular comic strip in the Chicago Defender newspaper. Abbott also founded a Bud Billiken Club which continues to provide youth scholarships and training opportunities.


Chicago Defender's Bud Billiken Parade float hosts the annual King, Queen and Royal Court winners from its annual Bud Billiken youth contest. Contest winners are based on a results of a subscription drive and oral and written essay contest.



Dancers Perform at the 2012 Bud Billiken Parade (Photo: Kalle Eko)

The Bud Billiken parade was developed in 1929 and is always held the second Saturday in August to kick off the back-to-school year. It draws numerous community booths and parade floats hosted by community organizations, local businesses and government agencies -- using the gathering to distribute information and donate school supplies and other goodies to young people.

The parade occurs in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago's south side, the traditional settlement of African Americans to the region during the Great Migration from southern states. The parade is now the largest parade celebration in the city of Chicago, drawing an annual local production of costumes and parade floats. It features youth marching bands, drummers, step shows, acrobats, youth dancers and more.



Photographs of Children Along Bud Billiken's Parade Route (Photo: Kalle Eko)

At the end of the parade, families and friends gather in the city's Washington Park to end the festivities with a community-wide picnic. The collective coordination of the community to bring wide youth participation in the parade is displayed by the proud shouts of encouragement supporting the creative showcase of Black Chicago from family and friends lining the miles of covered terrain. 

Robert Sengstacke Abbott and the Growth of Black News Publishing

Photo: Robert Sengstacke Abbott (b. Nov. 24, 1870 - d. Feb. 29, 1940)

Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born in Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia. Thomas Abbott, his father, was born into slavery in the US, but died when his son was still a baby. In 1869, Robert's mother, Flora Abbott, married John Sengstacke from a wealthy German merchant immigrant family. Robert retained his late father's name and took his step father's name as his middle name.

From 1892 to 1896, Robert studied the printing trade at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). By 1898, Robert earned a law degree from Kent College of Law in Chicago, Illinois. He practiced law in Gary, Indiana, Topeka, Kansas, and Chicago, Illinois. Ultimately, he decided that he could better battle the system of white supremacy racial injustice through the mass media instead of the courtroom. Robert put down his law books and picked up his printing press. He would report the challenges and successes of African Americans, news that was important to their lives.

THE CHICAGO DEFENDER NEWSPAPER

With reportedly as little as 25 cents capital, Robert began the most widely-circulated Black newspaper in the United States. The Chicago Defender newspaper became the medium to voice the concerns of African Americans in Chicago. The newspaper made many outstanding contributions to journalism and ultimately to Black history. 

Image of Chicago Defender headline.

Established in November 29, 1905, the Chicago Defender would become the longest running African American newspaper publication in Chicago. The exchange of information from North to South -- through both the Chicago Defender and correspondence between relatives -- accelerated the Great Migration of African Americans to Chicago, resulting in an increase of 150% in the population of Black Chicago between 1910-1920.

City officials in Arkansas town seek ban on Chicago Defender newspaper.

The Great Migration of African Americans from U.S. southern states to Chicago was in part fueled by the Chicago Defender's voice against injustice and grand accounts of northern living at the onset of the U.S. industrial revolution. Originally housed in a converted synagogue from 1920 to 1960, the Chicago Defender rapidly developed into both the country's premier source for news of the northern migration of African Americans.

Chicago Defender typesetters prepare community news for mass distribution.

Black Pullman Porters, who were prosperous and well respected in the African American communities, became the Defender's national "delivery  men," distributing the newspapers to many southern towns. The newspaper became an important communication tool between Black Chicagoans and their relatives in the southern states. 

"My friends made fun of me," Robert is reported to have said about the tremendous opposition to his establishing the Chicago Defender. "They thought it was foolish of me to anticipate success in a field in which so many men before me had failed...but I went on fighting the opposition of my adversaries and the indifferences of my friends. I emerged victorious but battle-scarred."

The historic home of Robert S. Abbott

(4742 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Chicago)

In 1929, Robert established the Bud Billiken Club and with David Kellum established Chicago's Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic. He resided in Chicago until his death from Bright's Disease in 1940. His home, established as a National Historical Landmark in 1976, was located at 4742 S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in the Bronzeville community of Chicago. He left the Chicago Defender newspaper to his nephew John Henry Sengstacke. 

After more than 100 years of Black publishing history, Chicago Defender's 2007 issue headlines local politics.