This chapter examines how people of the Black diaspora in the United States have articulated their histories and experiences in comics and graphic novels, and how they have developed singular aesthetic strategies to counter a white comics imaginary and its stereotyped depiction of Black bodies and culture, in order to construct more accurate images of themselves. This includes revisiting American history – particularly enslavement and Civil Rights activism – through a Black lens and with Black readers in mind. This historical rewriting engages with the social, political, and cultural contributions of Black people, filling voids and questioning occlusions. The chapter studies groundbreaking works of this nature by authors such as Kyle Baker, Roland and Taneisha Laird, and Joel Christian Gill. It also highlights the importance of graphic novels depicting the Black communal experience in the context of resistance to violence and the fight for social justice. Finally, it discusses the importance of Black embodiment and the embracing of Black culture, from early works such as Jackie Ormes’s strips in the 1950s to contemporary graphic novels like Ebony Flowers’s Hot Comb (2019).

Countering popular assumptions about comics being made for and by men, this chapter begins by offering a brief alternative comics history focusing on women artists, covering comics production from the mainstream to the underground. Taking cues from recent exhibitions on women artists and comics history by women authors and artists, the chapter provides insight into the different contexts and communities, covering political cartoonists and illustrators, mainstream and underground artists.

The second half of the chapter focuses on the graphic novel and examines works by Lynda Barry and a new generation of women comics artists, Ebony Flowers and Weng Pixin. It elaborates on the possibilities of reading the graphic novels in light of the rich history of women artists and comics storytelling, building bridges between individual and collective stories while pointing out the innovations unfolding through drawing, writing, and collage.