All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End: The Cartoons of Charles Johnson

Years before his National Book Award–winning novel Middle Passage, Charles Johnson created these hilarious and subversive gag comics about Black life in America. A talented cartoonist, Johnson studied under Lawrence Lariar and Charles Barsotti, and was inspired by Amiri Baraka to celebrate and depict Black life. He crafted some of the fiercest and funniest cartoons of the 20th century.

Reimagining the gag comic, Johnson tackled mid-century issues like segregation, poverty, police brutality, and white supremacy by subverting stale tropes. He populated them with Black Panthers, doubtful Klansmen, militant babies, self-serving politicians, and complacent suburban liberals. This collection, Johnson’s first in nearly half a century, brings together work from his career: college newspaper gags, selections from his books, an unpublished manuscript, and uncollected pieces.

(This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)