Once upon a time I found an online reader copy, but it was taken down (time limits you know) and then I found a new one, but waited too long again. So I said, I’m reading this darn book! And to the library I went! Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes by Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright (illustrator) had some interesting art for the cover and it felt like it would be a good read.
While I immensely enjoyed this book, there were things missing. As it is a picture book, the author won’t go into great detail, but I was hoping to see more personal information (there is an afterword that helps) as well as the impact and cultural influence her work had. I would have liked to see more representation of her actual work within the story itself. (I was not the only reviewer I found that thought this). The illustrations are enjoyable, but sometimes felt a bit too cartoonish. However, my favorite part is we are focusing on a person we would not normally see in a collection of influential people, or in a picture book.
Ormes was a woman of color who took the male-dominated world of cartoons by storm. She would make political and social commentary, she would push boundaries and she would have lavish parties. She was a fully rounded person who happened to have the FBI investigate her. Yet, they never really seem to pay attention to her actual work.
I hadn’t realized that I had heard of her, with her Patty-Jo cartoons (it looks like they might have influenced later artists) but Torchy Brown, Candy, and Ginger were a footnote at best. Still, I really knew very little and was thankful I finally found a copy about Zelda Jackson in 1911 who would become Jackie Ormes.
