Jackie Ormes

Jackie Ormes is proudly recognized as the first African American cartoonist in the United States, making significant contributions to the medium with her four notable comic strips: “Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem” (1937), “Candy” (1945), “Patty Jo ‘n’ Ginger” (1946), and “Torchy Brown, Heartbeats” (1950).

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Born on August 1, 1911, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ormes was the daughter of William Winfield Jackson and Mary Brown Jackson. William was an entrepreneur who owned a printing business and a movie theater. At the same time, Mary, a dedicated homemaker, became a single parent after her husband tragically died in a motor vehicle accident in 1917.

Consequently, Jackie and her sister, Delores, were briefly raised by their aunt and uncle.

In 1936, Jackie Jackson married Earl Ormes. Despite the heartbreaking loss of their only child, Jacqueline, to a brain aneurysm at the age of 3, Jackie and Earl sustained a loving partnership for 45 years until Earl’s passing in 1976.