As Disney prepares to release the story of its first black princess, we remember the black female cartoonist who brought black images and characters to the funny papers first – Jackie Ormes. It was Ormes’ characters that would express the “power of black” decades before it was accepted in real life. Her characters were elegant and classy.

Born Zelda Mavin Jackson, Ormes was best known for her comic strip, “Dixie to Harlem,” starring Torchy Brown. Torchy was a sassy Mississippi teen who became a star in the infamous Cotton Club. The strip would address race relations and other topics in the pages of the black Pittsburgh Courier newspaper every Saturday in the late 1930s.

Moving on to Chicago, Ormes would naturally began drawing for the Chicago Defender. But because she was so essential to the Courier, she would draw for both papers and create “Patty Jo 'n Ginger,” which centered on a beautiful black girl and her sassy, politically-aware little sister. Ormes’ strong political messages caused her to be secretly investigated by the government for communism for 10 years.

It was only fitting that Ormes would bring her characters to the toy shelves. she was approached by the Terri Doll company to develop a black baby doll based on her Patty Jo character. The Patty Jo doll was the first black doll to have a full upscale wardrobe. Just like her cartoon, the doll represented a real child, which was unlike most black dolls at the time, which were mammy-type or generic baby dolls.

Ormes’ big finale was seen in her reinvention of Torchy in a strip called “Torchy in Heartbeats” for the Courier. The last episode was in 1954, when Torchy and her doctor boyfriend presented opinions on racism and environmental pollution in America.

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