Negro Heroes
Negro Heroes is comic book published by National Urban League. This comic is more about true stories rather than a fictional fantasy of superheroes. This was the first “Black Hero” comic book, apparently predating by several months a more traditional ”All-Negro Comics”. Featuring pictorial sections on George Washington Carver, Matthew Henson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Paul Robeson (plus several wartime heroic soldiers and sailors), and with an introduction by boxer Joe Louis.
This comics focus on African Americans influential figures (heroes) and their journey to their success, to empower other African American or other minority ethnics to keep pursue their dreams.
Negro Heroes came in 2 series, the first one was published April 1947 and the second edition came a year later in 1948. This 34 pages comics book came in color and sold at $10.
Content
First Book
This comic features biographies of famous and influential African Americans. The people featured in this issue are, George Washington Carver, Mary McLeod Bethune, Paul Leroy Robeson, Matt Henson, Seaman Charles French, Charles Charles Walter David Jr., Charles Thomas and Matthew Alexander Henson.[1][2]
Second Book
It was no coincidence that Jackie Robinson was on the cover of this, the second issue of Negro Heroes. Robinson, thanks to Dodgers' General Manager Branch Rickey had not only broken the color barrier in professional baseball, but was voted rookie of the year. The brief biography format of the Negro Heroes magazine was the perfect mode to inform and uplift African American children as well as adults. In addition to obvious 'heroes' like Robinson and Booker T. Washington, the comic featured lesser known figures like Sadie Tanner Mosell Alexander (1898-1989) the first African American woman to receive a PhD in the United States. The rear cover is entirely devoted to the Urban League, who no doubt worked with the publisher on the content.
This comic features biographies of famous and influential African Americans. This issue is also called the summer issue. The people featured in this issue are, Booker T. Washington, the men of the 784th Tank Battalion, Toussaint L'Overture, Mabel K. Staupers, Jackie Robinson, Sadie T. M. Alexander, and Sugar Chile Robinson. Each person has a few pages dedicated to their story.[3]
External Link
Read the comic here
References
- ↑ The National Urban League Negro Heroes. [No. 1]. The Gilder Lehrman. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ↑ Negro Heroes 001. Digital Comic Museum. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
- ↑ The National Urban League Negro Heroes. [No. 2]. The Gilder Lehrman. Retrieved January 15, 2021.

