Torchy Brown

The 1937–1938 comic strip Torchy Brown, in “Dixie to Harlem” by Jackie Ormes would have been distinctive if only for its heritage—it was almost certainly the first strip to be written and drawn by an African American woman. In 53 weekly episodes, Ormes sketched the experiences of a glamorous heroine who new life and career at New York’s famed Cotton Club.

At first glance, Torchy’s adventures might seem as incredible as a fairy tale. The opening panels present a rural Southern community that is nearly idyllic, as Torchy is cared for by a loving aunt and uncle, and freely moves through a pastoral terrain. While journeying to the North, the character is, in she mingles comfortably with such African American musical legends as Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.

Despite the strip’s gestures in the direction of the fantastic, Torchy Brown clearly reflects significant cultural concerns. Through her exploration of an entertainer’s lifestyle in the almost mythic setting of the Cotton Club, Ormes celebrated and amplified the success of real African Americans who had achieved wide respect for their skill as jazz that also aligned the comic strip, as a mass culture form, with another popular art.

Ormes clearly enjoyed Torchy’s triumphs at the Cotton Club, which mirrored her own success as a cartoonist, but she never shied away from the darker possibilities that made Torchy’s victories so important. Even during Torchy’s “fantastic” journey to New York, the all-too-real world of segregation laws intrudes when Torchy must decide which of the individual, she expanded her social commentary to offer real-life lessons for her audience.