Nancy goldstein jackie ormes biography

American cartoonist

Jackie Ormes (August 1, 1911 – December 26, 1985) was an American cartoonist. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the Torchy Browncomic strip and the Patty-Jo 'n' Gingerpanel.

Early life and career

Jackie Ormes was born Zelda Mavin Jackson^[1][2] on August 1, 1911,^[3] in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to parents William Winfield Jackson and Mary Brown Jackson.^[4] Her father William, the owner of a printing company and movie theater proprietor, was killed in an automobile accident in 1917.^[4] This resulted in the then six-year old Jackie and her older sister Dolores being placed in the care of their aunt and uncle for a brief period of time.^[4] Eventually, Jackie's mother remarried and the family relocated to the nearby city of Monongahela.

Ormes described the suburb in a 1985 interview for the Chicago Reader as "spread out and simple. Nothi