Jackie Ormes is known as the First Black Woman Cartoonist.  Her first comic strip, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem, is published and syndicated by the Pittsburgh Courier in 1937.

Dorothy Woolfolk, began her career at DC comics as an editor in the 1940s and wrote for Wonder Woman in the 1970s.

Joan Baccus (Maynard), the author of Golden Legacy #2 (Fitzgerald Publishing, 1966) and several other volumes of the series.

Barbara Brandon-Croft is known for her comic strip Where I’m Coming From, and for being the first nationally syndicated African-American woman cartoonist. (Note:  Brandon-Croft is the first Black woman to be “syndicated” by the Universal Press Syndicate.  Jackie Ormes’ comic strips were also “syndicated” in a fashion, within the network of Black newspapers owned by the Pittsburgh Courier.)

Author and illustrator Micheline Hess began her career at Milestone Media (DC Comics) as a colorist on the Static comic book and other Milestone titles.  She’s best known for her self published comic, Diary of a Mad Black Werewolf.

Illustrator Alitha Martinez got her big break in comics in 1999 as a penciler on Cable ’99 Annual (1999).  This may make her the first woman of color to work for Marvel as an artist.  Martinez is of Hoduran and Curaçao heritage. The first Black woman to write for Marvel doesn’t appear until 2016 (see below).

In 2000, she became the regular penciler on Iron Man (Issues 28-40, 2000, w/ Joe Quesada, Frank Tier).

In 2006, she self published her creator-owned comic book title, Yuke and Ever.

Spike Trotman, creator of the publishing company Iron Circus, enters the comic book industry via webcomics with her series Templar, Arizona.  She is now one of the most successful independently owned comic book publishers.

Cartoonist Jennifer Crute begins her career in 2003.  Her collection of comic strips, Jennifer’s Journal, is nominated for a Glyph Award.

Illustrator, Ashley Woods began her career in 2006 by self publishing her fantasy title Millennia War.  She’s best known for her work on Niobe (published by Stranger Comics, 2015)

Illustrator’s Afua Richardson’s first published work appears in Genius (Image/Top Cow, 2007).  Her work in Black Panther, World of Wakanda will win her an Eisner in 2018.

Television writer and producer Felicia Henderson becomes the first Black Woman to write comics for DC in 2009, with her run on Teen Titans.

Author, illustrator Nilah Macgruder launches the webcomic M.F.K.  The action-adventure series won the very FIRST Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics in 2015.

Also in 2012, Spike Trotmon’s first adult, sex positive anthology Smut Peddler raises $83,000 on Kickstarter.

The webcomic Check Please is launched in 2013 by author and illustrator Ngozi Ukazu.  In 2015, her first Kickstarter for the self published graphic novel raises $74,290.

Dr. Sheena Howard is the recipient of the 2014 Eisner Award for her first book Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (2013).

In 2016, Nilah Macgruder officially became the first Black woman to write for Marvel with her book A Year of Marvels.  The title was a web exclusive.

Soon after, Marvel published Black Panther; World of Wakanda, written by Roxanne Gay and Yona Harvey and illustrated by Afua Richardson.  In 2018 they won the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series.