Dark Laughter Revisited: The Life and Times of Ollie Harrington

Throughout his career, Oliver “Ollie” Harrington (1912–1995) used his voice and artistic talents as a cartoonist to attack racial, economic, and social injustice with razor-sharp wit and insight. Speaking from the perspective of a cartoonist of color, his commentary chronicled many of the events and issues that defined the 20th century, from racism and segregation to war and poverty. Harrington’s life and career intersected with the Harlem Renaissance, World War II, the Civil Rights movement, the post-war Black émigré community in Paris, and communist East Germany during the Cold War. Many of Harrington’s cartoons remain relevant and speak to problems still unresolved.

Starting in the 1930s, Harrington’s work was widely published in the Black Press, including the New York Amsterdam News, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Chicago Defender, and the People’s Voice. His long-running series Dark Laughter (later known as Bootsie) cast a satirical, yet affectionate, gaze on Black America through the adventures of an observant African-American “everyman.”

Harrington was an unapologetic activist and critic of racism and capitalism. During World War II, he served as a war correspondent and later worked briefly as the NAACP public relations director. He emigrated from the United States to Paris in 1952 and ultimately to Berlin in 1961 in response to concerns about FBI surveillance due to his outspoken condemnation of the U.S. government. Later in his career, he also published incisive editorial cartoons in the U.S. Communist Party newspaper, the Daily World, and the German satirical publication Eulenspiegel.

This traveling exhibition is a retrospective of work by cartoonist Oliver “Ollie” W. Harrington. It was organized by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in collaboration with Dr. and Mrs. Walter O. Evans. Curated by Dr. Kay Clopton and Jenny Robb.