BHS Day 4: Barbara Brandon

Hi! You know, even though I had four features for this category last year, for some reason I still feel that it's a bit undermentioned, probably because it was a little difficult for me to find good candidates for the Fashion category. I'll explain more about that when we get to this Spotlight again next week. Today, we're focusing on an African-American in the art world who broke some barriers for others in the profession. 

Name: Barbara Brandon, 1958-- Profession: Cartoonist, author Why is the Spotlight on her today? For being the first African-American to have her own nationally syndicated cartoon strip  Notables and accomplishments: --Was the first African-American female cartoonist to receive national syndication for her comic strip Where I'm Coming From, a story about 12 friends with diverse lives and experiences that were explored during the comic's 14-15 year span --Was part of the only known father-daughter newspaper cartoonists, as her father wrote the comic strip Luther, which was circulated in the LA Times Syndicate paper --Was able to get Where I'm Coming From released in 100 US cities, 60 newspapers and publications in both Jamaica and South Africa --Was one of the cartoonists profiled in the 2010 exhibit "Coloring Outside the Lines: Black Cartoonists as Social Commentators"  --Has appeared on the Women in Comics NYC Collective International panel --Got her start in comics by helping her father with his strip as a teen --Worked for Essence and Crisis, a publication by the NAACP  Research resources and further reading links: The African-American Almanac | Biography | Wikipedia | CBLDF | Oakland Local Archives |  Quote of the Day: "If mainstream folk understood the black perspective better, they wouldn't be surprised at the rage we're holding. We know White people because we're exposed to them, but they don't know us. If we're going to have a peaceful existence, they have to understand our perspective."  --Barbara Brandon