Ollie Harrington (1912-1995) is considered the greatest Black cartoonist of the 20th century,an epithet bestowed on him by Langston Hughes. Harrington used his expressive line to document Black life in America, primarily for the Amsterdam News and the Pittsburgh Courier. He created the strip "Dark Laughter" in 1935, which featured "Bootsie," an Harlemite dealing with racism; the character became so popular that the cartoon was renamed for him. Harrington became involved with the NAACP after meeting Walter White, and his activism eventually brought upon him the eye of both HUAC and the FBI. He left the US for France in 1951, and took political asylum in East Germany ten years later.
This collection contains 302 cartoon tearsheets, primarily "Bootsie" but including some of Harrington's political cartoons, from the 1950s and 1960s.
Rbml Advance Appointment
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library