Analysis of black images in comic strips, 1915-1995

Newspaper Research Journal, Winter 1997 by Sylvia E White, Tania Fuentez

Some evidence of the beginnings of the respect stage can be seen in the 1995 sample: virtually no negative stereotypes, black characters appearing in a broader range of jobs and social settings than ever before and a slight increase in the percentage of black characters overall. Still, blacks are seriously underrepresented in daily newspaper comic strips. Most of the strips sampled in 1995 did not contain any black images at all. Some strips had a rare appearance by a non-recurring or infrequently recurring character (Better or Worse, Peanuts, Marvin, The Family Circus, Beetle Bailey, Baby Blues). Three had frequent appearances by black characters that were important to the storyline (The Middletons by Summers, Crankshaft by Batuik and Ayers, Funky by Batuik).

Black images in these three strips ranged across all age groups except the elderly, two of the seven characters were female, two of the seven characters were portrayed in supervisory/ professional roles, all seven characters were shown interacting socially among themselves and, more often, with white characters. It is also fair to say that if the race of any or all of these seven characters were changed, it would not affect the storyline of the strips in which they appear. What was conspicuously missing were any strips where nonstereotyped black characters interact with one another or with non-black characters about issues important to the black community. In our sample the comic strips used other social issues as fodder for fun or comment (such as child care, office politics, education, etc.) but never race relations. None of the strips written by black cartoonists mentioned earlier in this article appeared in the sample (Curtis, Wee Pals, Herb and Jamal, The Griots, Where I'm Coming From, Jumpstart).

While the nature of the portrayal of black characters in daily newspaper comic strips has become less negative and such characters are being included in a greater variety of settings and occupations, the percentage of such characters is still far below the percentage of blacks in the U.S. population. As Clark observed for television, ridicule of black characters has decreased and respect is beginning, but black comic strip characters seem caught in perpetual nonrecognition.

Notes

1. Harry L. Katz and Sara W. Duke, Featuring the Funnies: One Hundred Years of the Comic Strips, p. 8. The Library of Congress,1995.

2. Mort Walker, Introduction, in Featuring the Funnies: One Hundred Years of the Comic Strips, Harry L. Katz & Sara W. Duke, p. 1-2. The Library of Congress,1995.

3. The term black is used throughout this study rather than African-American because black is more inclusive. The images examined ranged from African-Americans, to Africans and others of African descent. The term African-American does not acknowledge or make this distinction.

4. Ron Goulart, The Funnies: 100 Years of American Comic Strips, pp. 74-75, 93. Holbrook, Massachusetts: Adams Publishing,1995.

5. Ibid.

6. Katz & Duke, op.cit., p. 8.