Brumsic Brandon Jr.

{{Infobox comics creator

| image = File:Brumsic Brandon Jr.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Brumsic Brandon Jr.

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|04|10}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|11|28|1927|04|10}}

| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| death_place = Cocoa Beach, Florida, U.S.

| pencil = y

| ink = y

| alias =

| notable works = Luther

| awards =

| subcat =

}}

Brumsic Brandon Jr. (April 10, 1927 – November 28, 2014)[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KRX2-N83 Brumsic Brandon a.k.a. Brumsic B. Brandon] at the Social Security Death Index via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on June 20, 2015. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150620225739/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KRX2-N83 Archived] from the original on June 20, 2015. was an African-American cartoonist whose 1969-1986 Luther was one of the earliest mainstream comic strips to feature an African American in the lead role.

Early life and career

Brandon Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 1927, the second of five children born to Brumsic Brandon Sr., a Washington Union Station porter, and Pearl Brooks Brandon. He attended school in the segregated Armstrong public school district. While still a teen, with his art ambitions supported by family and a high school art teacher, Brandon began submitting comic-strip ideas to newspapers. After studying art at New York University, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Following two years of service in post-World War II occupied Germany, where he reached the rank of sergeant, he returned to New York City and drew comics after his workdays in various jobs.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/arts/design/brumsic-brandon-jr-creator-of-luther-comic-strip-dies-at-87.html |title=Brumsic Brandon Jr., Creator of 'Luther' Strip, Dies at 87 |first=Paul |last=Vitellodec |date=December 2, 2014 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-date=December 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207094141/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/arts/design/brumsic-brandon-jr-creator-of-luther-comic-strip-dies-at-87.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }} His employers included RCA and Bray Studios, where he worked as an animator.{{cite news| url = http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/floridatoday/obituary.aspx?pid=173333233 | title=Brumsic Brandon Jr. Obituary | publisher= Florida Today via Legacy.com | date= December 2, 2014| access-date= June 20, 2015}}

File:Luther comic strip.jpg strip (date n.a.) with an example of Brandon's satirical, race-based humor]]

He published his first cartoon in 1945, and drew editorial cartoons as well as caricatures, some of which were collected in the 1966 book Damned If We Do, and Damned If We Don't,{{cite book | url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31316857| title= Damned If We Do, and Damned If We Don't | publisher= WorldCat | oclc= 31316857 | access-date=June 20, 2015}} published by the San Jose, California chapter of the Civil Rights organization CORE and the Santa Clara Valley Friends of SNCC.[https://www.amazon.com/Damned-If-We-Do-Dont/dp/B005APN0R0 Damned If We Do, and Damned If We Don't] at Amazon.com. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150621012939/http://www.amazon.com/Damned-If-We-Do-Dont/dp/B005APN0R0 Archived] from the original on June 20, 2015

''Luther'' and television

He then conceived of Luther, a comic strip about inner-city African-American children, imbued with a gently satirical theme about the struggle for racial equality.[http://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/brandon_brumsic.htm Brumsic Brandon Jr.] at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140528182231/http://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/brandon_brumsic.htm Archived] from the original on May 1, 2014.{{cite book | editor-last=Horn | editor-first= Maurice|editor-link1=Maurice Horn | title = 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics |publisher = Gramercy Books | location= New York York | year= 1996 | pages = 190–191 | isbn= 0-517-12447-5}} He named his title character, a third-grader, after Civil Rights activist the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.{{cite magazine | url = http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/19/040419fa_fact2?currentPage=all | magazine = The New Yorker | title= The Radical: Why do editors keep throwing 'The Boondocks' off the funnies page? | first=Ben | last=McGrath | date= April 19, 2004 | access-date= 2014-05-01 | archive-date= November 5, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121105060549/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/19/040419fa_fact2?currentPage=all | url-status = live}} In 1968, the Long Island newspaper Newsday began syndicating Luther through its own small syndicate, Newsday Specials,{{Cite web |title='Coloring Outside the Lines: Black Cartoonists as Social Commentators' exhibit to open at Laney |date = August 6, 2010 |url=http://archive.oaklandlocal.com/article/coloring-outside-lines-black-cartoonists-social-commentators-coming-laney-college-library-au |publisher=Oakland Local |access-date=February 23, 2014|archive-date= August 23, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100823215313/http://oaklandlocal.com/article/coloring-outside-lines-black-cartoonists-social-commentators-coming-laney-college-library-au}} in conjunction with Reporters' News Syndicate, an initiative designed to increase minority participation in journalism.{{cite web | url = http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2012/ms012153.pdf | title= Robert G. Spivack Papers: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress| publisher= Manuscript Division, Library of Congress| location=Washington, D.C.| date=2012 | page= 5| quote= ...Spivack's late 1960s initiative, Reporters' News Syndicate, a program designed to give minority candidates practical training in journalism....| access-date=June 20, 2015}} In 1970, following the purchase of Newsday by Times Mirror, the strip became syndicated widely through the corporation's Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

In the early 1970s, Brandon appeared as himself, a.k.a. Mr. B.B., drawing and giving simple art lessons on the locally produced, WPIX-TV children's television program Joya's Fun School in New York City.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2OR_-Y8c2A "Time for Joya [featuring Brandon Brumsic Jr.]"], published July 20, 2010, on YouTube.

Following the June 1986 discontinuation of Luther upon Brandon's retirement, Brandon contributed political cartoons and op-ed pieces to the Brevard County, Florida, newspaper Florida Today.

Personal life

In 1959, Brandon moved with his family to New Cassel, New York, a Long Island hamlet adjacent to Westbury, New York.{{cite news |url=https://thewestburytimes.com/2014/12/remembering-a-cartoon-legacy/ |title=Remembering A Cartoon Legacy |work=The Westbury Times |date=December 23, 2014 |first=Domenica |last=Farishian |location=Westbury, New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422071605/http://thewestburytimes.com/2014/12/remembering-a-cartoon-legacy/ |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown }} {{cite journal |last1=Degand |first1=D. |date=2023 |title='Black lines on white paper': How comic artist Barbara Brandon-Croft draws on Where [She's] Coming From |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21504857.2023.2282063 |journal=Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=451–473 |doi=10.1080/21504857.2023.2282063 |access-date=April 10, 2024}} Afterward, they lived in the Pocono Mountains area before finally settling in Florida for more than 25 years. He was married to his wife Rita for 64 years at the time of his death. The couple had three children: Barbara Brandon, a.k.a. Barbara Brandon-Croft, who would become the first nationally syndicated female African-American cartoonist, Linda, and a son, Brumsic Brandon III. The family was unsure of the origin of the name Brumsic, with unconfirmed family lore speculating it might be derived from "Brunswick".

He died in Cocoa Beach, Florida, of complications from Parkinson's disease. He had four siblings: Grievance, who predeceased him, Yvonne, Waliakbar Muhammad, and Ivan.

Bibliography

Luther collections:

Luther from Inner City (Independent Publishers Group, 1969; {{ISBN|0-8397-5650-X}}; {{ISBN|978-0-8397-5650-7}})
Luther Tells It as It Is! (Paul S. Eriksson, 1970; {{ISBN|0-8397-5670-4}}; {{ISBN|978-0-8397-5670-5}})
Right on, Luther! (Paul S, Eriksson, 1971; {{ISBN|0839770758}}; {{ISBN|978-0839770756}})
Luther Raps (Paul S, Eriksson, 1971; {{ISBN|0839756658}}; {{ISBN|978-0839756651}})
Outta Sight Luther (Paul S. Eriksson, 1972; {{ISBN|0839764812}}; {{ISBN|978-0839764816}})
Luther's Got Class (Paul S. Eriksson, 1976; {{ISBN|0839756682}}; {{ISBN|978-0839756682}})

Exhibitions

2020 "Still... Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons" (Medialia Gallery, New York City) — posthumous joint exhibition with Brandon's daughter Barbara Brandon-Croft[https://www.medialiagallery-archive.com/2020/feb2020spaceII.html Exhibition web page], Medialia Gallery website. Retrieved Apr. 2, 2024.[https://abc7ny.com/society/still-racism-in-america---a-retrospective-in-cartoons/6063450/ "SOCIETY: STILL: Racism in America - A Retrospective in Cartoons,"] ABC7NY Here and Now Episode 269: Segment 3 (March 30, 2020).

2022 "Still... Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons" (Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Columbus, OH) — joint exhibition with Brandon-Croft and her father Brumsic Brandon Jr.[https://cartoons.osu.edu/events/still-racism-in-america-a-retrospective-in-cartoons/ Exhibition web page], Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum website. Retrieved Apr. 2, 2024.

2024 "Still... Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons" (University of California-Davis Design Museum, Davis, CA) — joint exhibition with Brandon-Croft and her father Brumsic Brandon Jr.[https://arts.ucdavis.edu/event/still-racism-america-retrospective-cartoons Exhibition web page], University of California-Davis website. Retrieved Apr. 2, 2024.

References

External links

{{cite news |url=http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ106759 |title='Luther' and the Black Image in the Comics |last=Brandon |first=Brumsic Jr. |work=Freedomways |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=233–241 |archive-date=June 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621013524/http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ106759 |url-status=live }} Abstract only.
[https://osucartoons.pastperfectonline.com/vocabulary?keyword=Brandon%2C+Brumsic%2C+Jr.%2C+1927-2014&letter=B&searchtype=creator&showsearch=true The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database]

Category:1927 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:Animators from Washington, D.C.

Category:African-American comics writers

Category:African-American comics artists

Category:American political artists

Category:African Americans in New York City

Category:American comics artists

Category:American comic strip cartoonists

Category:American caricaturists

Category:American humorists

Category:American satirists