Ollie Harrington

Oliver Wendell Harrington (February 14, 1912 – November 2, 1995) was an American cartoonist of multi-ethnic descent and an outspoken advocate against racism and for civil rights in the United States. Langston Hughes called him "America's greatest African-American cartoonist". In 1961, Harrington requested political asylum in East Germany; he lived in Berlin for the last three decades of his life.

Biography Early life and education Born to Herbert and Euzsenie Turat Harrington in Valhalla, New York, Harrington was the oldest of five children. As the son of an African-American father and a Jewish mother from Budapest, Oliver Harrington grew up in a diverse community within the South Bronx. He began cartooning to vent his frustrations about a viciously racist sixth-grade teacher, and at the Yale School of Fine Arts, where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1940. He joined the Communist Party and was in the same party cell as Benjamin J. Davis Jr., Marvel Cooke, and Richard Wright.

Cartooning career

Immersing himself in the Harlem Renaissance, Harrington befriended writers such as Arna Bontemps, Rudolph Fisher, Wallace Thurman, and Langston Hughes. Harrington found employment with the Amsterdam News when its city editor, Ted Poston, became aware of the young cartoonist's considerable gifts as a political satirist. In 1935, Harrington created a single-panel cartoon strip, Dark Laughter, for the Amsterdam News. The strip was later retitled Bootsie, after its most famous character, an African-American man dealing with racism in the U.S.

In the Introduction to the 1958 collection of Bootsie cartoons, Bootsie and Others, Langston Hughes called Harrington a first-rate social satirist and "Negro America's favorite cartoonist".

Civil rights Among Harrington's political influences in Harlem were Paul Robeson and Adam Clayton Powell Jr..

Germany In November 1960, when Richard Wright died suddenly of a heart attack in Paris, Harrington suspected his friend's death may have been an assassination perpetrated by the CIA and/or FBI.

In August 1961, he traveled to East Berlin to discuss with publishers the possibility of illustrating classic English and American books. From his hotel room, he could see the Berlin Wall being constructed. He later recalled, "I was a virtual prisoner."

Personal life Harrington was married three times, His youngest child, a son, was born after Harrington married his third wife, Helma Richter, a German radio journalist.

On November 2, 1995, Oliver Harrington died in Berlin. He was 83.

Awards and recognition In 2026, Harrington was selected for inclusion in the Eisner Hall of Fame.

Publications

— (2021). Bootsie's War Years: A Dark Laughter Collection. Edited by Nat Gertler. Camarillo, California: About Comics. — (2021). Bootsie's Big '50s. Camarillo, California: About Comics.

Exhibitions

Curated by Kassidi Jones.