"In the United States at midcentury - a time of few opportunities for women in general and even fewer for African American women - Jackie Ormes (1911-85) blazed a trail as a popular cartoonist with the major black newspapers of the day. Jackie Ormes chronicles the life of this multiply talented, fascinating woman." "The biography's more than 150 illustrations include photographs of Jackie Ormes and a large sampling of her cartoons and color comic strips, including some furnished by cartoonist and cartoon historian Tim Jackson. Ormes's work provides an invaluable glimpse into American culture and history, with topics that include racial segregation, U.S. foreign policy, educational equality, the atom bomb, and environmental pollution, among other pressing issues of the times - and of today's world as well."--BOOK JACKET.

Ch. 1. Small-Town Roots, Big-City Ambitions -- Ch. 2. The Chicago Years -- Ch. 3. Newspapers, Comic Strips, Cartoons -- Ch. 4. Torchy Brown in "Dixie to Harlem" -- Ch. 5. Candy -- Ch. 6. Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger -- Ch. 7. Torchy in Heartbeats -- Ch. 8. The Patty-Jo Doll -- Excerpts from the FBI File of Jackie Ormes.