Author: -

Abstract: »Matt Baker (1921–1959) is often considered to be the frst African American comic book artist, perhaps best known for his talent as a ‘good girl’ artist. Baker’s pin-up styled comic book heroines captivated the imaginations of a predominantly white male readership targeted by early comic book publishers. Contemporaneous to Baker’s career is the historical period of racialized domestic terrorism known as lynching, with an estimated 4384 black people killed by white vigilantes between 1877 and 1950. The death of many victims, overwhelmingly male, was routinely justifed by alleging they attempted to rape white women. How can we reconceptualize the heroism of a black artist whose work is predicated on providing provocative images of white women during a historical period when he could have been killed for simply speaking to them? This essay elaborates on a body of visual artwork attempting to reconcile Baker’s legacy with the sometimes-deadly contemporary perceptions of black men as criminals and sexual aggressors.« (Source: Article)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 47)
	Matt Baker (p. 49)
	Good Girl Comics (p. 23)
	The Black Rapist Myth (p. 54)
	Lynching as Sexual Violence (p. 55)
	Artistic Meditations (p. 57)
	Afterword (p. 59)
	Bibliography (p. 60)

Wikipedia: History of the Americas: History of the United States | Comics: Comics creators / Matt Baker (artist) | Sex and the law: Rape / Black peril, Rape in the United States