USA observes Black History Month every February to honour the achievements and culture of the African American communities. We curate a list of graphic novels and comics, published over the recent years that offer a glimpse into their triumphs and everyday conflicts
Pic courtesy/Jarrett Williams
Hip Hop: The Beat of America by Jarrett Williams
Over the past four years, History Comics Series has introduced to young readers several historical events from around the world through non-fiction graphic
novels. This one in the series traces the history and origins of hip-hop in the US as young Aaliyah and her father Jaspar embark on a tour beginning in the Bronx, New York. Jaspar breaks down the elements of hip-hop for Aaliyah. He tells her about the problems faced by the black community during the 1970s, which led to artistes writing music to voice them. They listen to several old school favourites. We learn from Jaspar’s stories that hip-hop is a larger subculture than a mere musical genre. We also get a taste of the history of jazz and blues of the 1920s.
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The Talk by Darrin Bell
Pic Courtesy/Comixshelf
Pulitzer Prize-winner Darrin Bell is a political cartoonist and creator of an ongoing series of comic strips called Candorville. Through his debut graphic memoir, The Talk, Bell takes us back to specific moments from his childhood that shaped him. The prologue is chilling — six-year-old Bell encounters a pack of scary, beastly dogs. After a few days of being haunted by the thought of an unexpected ambush by them, he finds a safe spot in the bus and draws his first sketch. He writes, “I draw the beast I know I saw.” What follows are episodes which speak about small, everyday microaggressions as well as large scale racial discriminations.
Ghost Roast by Shawnelle and Shawnee Gibbs, and Emily Cannon
Pic courtesy/Emily Cannon
Chelsea’s father is a paranormal removal expert — a ghost hunter. This messes up her social life until she joins a new school and becomes a part of a popular girl gang. When she gets invited to a party at a local cemetery, she agrees. She is caught by her parents and pays the price by working for her father. While her father uses his DIY device, ‘the ghost roaster’, to get rid of the energy of the spirits, Chelsea realises she can see and talk to ghosts. Can she save one such spirit she meets? This is a coming-of-age adventure of a 15-year-old black girl, as she navigates her present through stories of New Orleans’s past.
Monarch Series by Rodney Barnes
Pic courtesy/Mighty Lee Comics
Rodney Barnes is known for his fantastic vampire characters in Blacula: The Return of the King and the Killadelphia series. In his Monarch series, however, he moves away from them and zooms into the life of a boy who grew up in Compton. The city is infamous for having a high crime rate .and carrying a history of gang violence as well as police brutality. But in his school, Travon finds out about another kind of challenge that awaits him. Aliens seem to have taken over the town and are attacking its citizens, including Travon’s adopted family. What is he going to do? Throughout this title, Barnes offers some of the most poignant and thought-provoking dialogues through Travon, his middle-school love Daysha, as well as his family.
Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith
Pic courtesy/Robyn Smith
This graphic novel is a beautiful and gentle exploration of female friendships. It depicts the lives of four black women who live together in the Bronx. There aren’t any dramatic events. Instead, there is a lightness and joy in the narration, yet the fact that the book is a reply to something larger doesn’t go unnoticed. Rowser and Smith’s collaborative effort throws an unassuming light on black bodies, especially black women’s bodies and their hair, often the subjects of ridicule. For the two, it was important to tell and show “the intricacies of something considered ugly by Western standards,” Smith had commented in a Q&A with the publisher.
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The Guide’s bonus list
>> Victory Stand! Raising my Fist for Justice by Derrick Barnes and Tommie Smith
>> As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman £ Rosa Parks and Claudine Colvin by Tracey Baptiste £The Crossover by Kwame Alexander £ Run by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
>> Nubia: Real One by LL McKinney and Robyn Smith
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