Synopses & Reviews
A complete documentary history of African Americans in one cartoon narrative.
Art Spiegelman and Larry Gonick opened the door for an all-out renaissance of the cartoon form, bringing a medieval form of history -- through pictures -- together with a modern sensibility. In Still I Rise Roland Laird and Elihu Bey take the form to another level, using cartoons to tell the rich history of the achievements, struggles, hopes, suffering, and triumphs of people of African descent in America. In the process, they bring to light many surprising and little-known facts of American history, making the book a joy to both those who thought they knew it all already and those learning history for the first time.
As National Book Award winner Charles Johnson points out in his introduction, the history of African American cartooning is itself a vibrant one, and almost unknown. Still I Rise is a great contribution. It not only tells history, it makes history.
-- Posro Komics has been profiled in over 200 publications and on television programs such as "Yo, MTV Raps!", "Today", and ABC News. In 1993, Posro's syndicated cartoon strip The Griots reached over one million readers each week.
-- "Permeating this encyclopedic research is Posro's recognition of the beauty, resilience, and spiritual endurance of black Americans". -- Charles Johnson
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-206) and index.