Long before he became known as an acclaimed novelist, essayist, distinguished professor, author of 26 books (including his novel Middle Passage, winner of the 1990 National Book Award), and as a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Charles Johnson was a serious—which is to say, very funny—gag panel and political cartoonist. Beginning during his high school years in Chicago, Johnson pursued a career as a professional cartoonist and illustrator, and while studying at Southern Illinois University, began creating hundreds of drawings for his school newspaper, and later for the Chicago Tribune, Ebony magazine, Charlton Comics and many other publishers. Despite his many literary accomplishments over the years, Johnson never stopped drawing cartoons. His new book, All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End, collects 50 years of his works, and includes his early drawings and several book collections (including an unpublished manuscript) that show off his creative transformation of the single-panel gag cartoon into a satirical vehicle for Black liberation. Beginning in the 1960s, his cartoons depict period-era Black Panther revolutionaries, racist cops, militant Black students, white liberals, race-befuddled office workers, and indeed, Black people from all walks of life warily and hilariously navigating a path through racism and white America as best they can. This 11-page excerpt features gags from 1975 until the present. All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End by Charles Johnson will be published by New York Review Comics in October.
