Today in Black History #939: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Jackie Ormes was born Zelda Mavin Jackson on August 1, 1911, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ormes made history as the first African-American woman cartoonist, who often commented on the social issues of her time.
Ormes started in journalism as a proofreader for the Pittsburgh Courier. She also worked as an editor and as a freelance writer, writing on police beats, court cases, and human-interest topics.
In 1937, Ormes debuted her first comic strip, “Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem,” in the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation’s leading Black newspapers. The strip followed the adventures of Torchy Brown, a young, ambitious Southern girl who migrated to the North to pursue her dreams.
