fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Barbara Brandon-Croft (born November 27, 1958)[1] is an American cartoonist,[2] best known for creating the comic strip Where I'm Coming From, and for being the first nationally syndicated African-American female cartoonist.[3][4][5]

Barbara Brandon-Croft
Born	(1958-11-27) November 27, 1958 (age 63) Brooklyn, New York
Occupation	Cartoonist
Nationality	American
Genre	Comic strip
Notable works	Where I'm Coming From

Early life

Brandon-Croft was born in Brooklyn, New York,[1] to Brumsic Brandon Jr. Her father was also a cartoonist and he was the creator of the comic strip Luther which was in circulation from 1970 to 1986 under the Los Angeles Times Syndicate newspapers.[3][6][7] She and her father are said to represent the only occurrence of father-daughter newspaper cartoonists.[3]

She attended the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.[1] In 1982, she developed a cartoon feature for Elan, a magazine for black women.[1] She later joined the staff of Essence magazine as their fashion and beauty writer. She also created illustrations for The Crisis, published by the NAACP; as well as for The Village Voice and MCA Records.[6]

Brandon-Croft's illustrating talent had developed naturally. Growing up she helped her father with his comics in exchange for allowance.[1] She was first recognized for the comic strip Where I'm Coming From. She later did other illustrations including Sista Girl-Fren Breaks It Down...When Mom's Not Around.[1] Brandon-Croft also created a line of illustrated greeting cards for OZ.[1]

Where I'm Coming From

Brandon-Croft started publishing Where I'm Coming From beginning in 1989 in the Detroit Free Press.[3][8] The comic strip traces the experiences of about twelve African-American women[3][5] and gives insight into the challenges of being an African American woman living in the United States.[8] It features characters such as Alisha, Cheryl, Lekesia, Nicole and others.[5][6][7] The characters are based on Brandon and her real-life friends.[1][6][7]

The artwork is minimalistic.[1] There is an absence of backdrop drawings, with the focus solely on the characters who are represented by drawings of their upper torso.[1] Speech bubbles are also omitted and the characters address the reader directly.[1]

Where I'm Coming From went into national syndication in 1991 with the Universal Press Syndicate[8] making Brandon-Croft the first female black cartoonist to be nationally syndicated.[3][6][8][9] It was the first comic strip by a black woman to be syndicated in mainstream newspapers.[10] The comic strip was featured in more than sixty newspapers between 1989 and 2004.[3][7] It appeared in newspapers throughout the United States, including Essence, The Sacramento Bee, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Baltimore Sun, as well as in The Gleaner in Jamaica and the Johannesburg Drum magazine.[1][3][7] Brandon-Croft ceased publication of the comic strips in 2005 after subscriptions dwindled.[9][11]

Brandon-Croft and her father's work are both represented in the Library of Congress and in editions of Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year.[12]

Personal life

Brandon-Croft is married to Monte Croft, with whom she has one child, Chase, and resides in Queens, New York.[11][12]

Exhibitions

• 2020 "Still... Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons" (Medialia Gallery, New York City) — joint exhibition with Brandon-Croft and her father Brumsic Brandon Jr.[13][14]

Bibliography

• Brandon, Barbara (Apr 10, 1993). Where I'M Coming From. Andrews McMeel Publishing.
• Ahmed-Cawthorne, Francheska; Brandon, Barbara, illustrator (1996). Sista' Girlfren' Breaks It Down When Mom's Not Around. Simon & Schuster, Inc.

See also

• Jackie Ormes
• Morrie Turner

Further reading

• Jackson, Tim (2016). Pioneering cartoonists of color. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496804853. OCLC 981764227.

References

External links

• Access to digitized editions of Where I'm Coming From at the Library of Congress.
• Harper, Peter Alan (August 25, 1991). "Black Female Cartoonist Is Ready to Jump Into the Media Mainstream". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 1, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-01.

---