auntada:

Oliver “Ollie” Harrington was born in Valhalla, New York in 1912, the son of an African-American father and a Jewish mother from Budapest. He began drawing caricatures when he was a young boy, as a way to vent frustrations about a racist teacher. After graduating from high school, Harrington went to work for the Amsterdam News. While working for there, he created a comic strip called Dark Laughter, Harrington’s most popular series.

During World War II, Harrington worked for the Pittsburgh Courier as a war correspondent to Europe. There he documented the experience of African-American soldiers. A common theme of his cartoons was the irony of fighting for rights in Europe that they did not have in their own country.

After the war Harrington worked as a cartoonist for the NAACP. Harrington’s cartoons often dealt with the subject of racism. He was particularly concerned about what he believed was government apathy about legislation against lynching. He later argued that had no alternative but to be a political artist: “I personally feel that my art must be involved, and the most profound involvement must be with the Black liberation struggle.”

In 1950, Harrington’s political activism brought him to the attention of the FBI and Joseph McCarthy. He decided to leave the country and went to live in Paris, where he associated with other black exiles such as James Baldwin, Richard Wright and Chester Himes. Harrington was one of those who believed Wright was murdered by the CIA in 1960.

In 1961, Harrington went to East Berlin after he was commissioned him to illustrate a series of translated American classics. While in the city, the East German government erected the Berlin Wall, and Harrington was unable to leave. He spent the rest of his life in Berlin, where his work as an illustrator and cartoonist made him a cult figure.