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11 - Black Looking and Looking Black

African American Cartoon Aesthetics

from Part II - Graphic Novels and the Quest for an American Diversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2024

By
Joanna Davis-McElligatt
Edited by
Jan Baetens ,
Hugo Frey  and
Fabrice Leroy
Jan Baetens
Affiliation:
KU Leuven, Belgium
Hugo Frey
Affiliation:
University of Chichester
Fabrice Leroy
Affiliation:
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
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Summary

This chapter examines how people of the Black diaspora in the United States have articulated their histories and experiences in comics and graphic novels, and how they have developed singular aesthetic strategies to counter a white comics imaginary and its stereotyped depiction of Black bodies and culture, in order to construct more accurate images of themselves. This includes revisiting American history – particularly enslavement and Civil Rights activism – through a Black lens and with Black readers in mind. This historical rewriting engages with the social, political, and cultural contributions of Black people, filling voids and questioning occlusions. The chapter studies groundbreaking works of this nature by authors such as Kyle Baker, Roland and Taneisha Laird, and Joel Christian Gill. It also highlights the importance of graphic novels depicting the Black communal experience in the context of resistance to violence and the fight for social justice. Finally, it discusses the importance of Black embodiment and the embracing of Black culture, from early works such as Jackie Ormes’s strips in the 1950s to contemporary graphic novels like Ebony Flowers’s Hot Comb (2019).

Keywords

Black representationsgazeenslavementCivil Rightssocial justiceKyle BakerRoland and Taneisha LairdJoel Christian GillJackie OrmesEbony Flowers
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel , pp. 193 - 209
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

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