Photo Reflection of the Day #197: Classics Illustrated: Early Negro Americans

---

What Is It

A reprint of Classics Illustrated: Early Negro Americans.

Why It's today's Pick

I came across this find at a flea market in Essex Junction, Vermont last week.  I remember hearing about this at some point but was rather surprised to find this reprint and given that it was $2, decided to buy it as an artifact, possibly for my popular culture course.  The comic leaves much to be desired in terms of what it covers, but that's to be expected given it was published in 1969 by a company that kept its content largely geared towards youth.  The one thing that strikes me about this issue is that "Classics Illustrated" as quoted on the cover itself "Featuring stories by the World's Greatest Authors" and usually adapts fiction, but this issue is a depiction of real African Americans, rather than adapting classic African American fiction.  Thus even in trying to be progressive, it's sending the message that there is not enough African American literature to adapt (even though by 1969 there are many African American authors to draw upon).

This submission is part of the 365 Challenge.  For 2015's submissions, check out this link to all the posts.  For access to all photos, which open for reuse under a Creative Commons License, check out the full album on Flickr.


By Any Other Nerd Blog by Lance Eaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.