African Americana

4 1/4 x 5 1/2 in., staple-bound. Original illustrated wrappers. 

Described on front wrapper as "Tiny Giants Series #2," this work was produced as a sequel to the author's 1972 book, It's No Fun to Be Black. In her own words: "I wrote a little cartoon book the other day, called 'It's No Fun to Be Black,' and told the reasons why this is true, primarily because living as a minority in a big white world can be frustrating and pure suffering at times. The happiness we have is in spite of being black, and we must be a truly great people to have survived the terrors of living in this country. In this little book I shall picture the other side of the story and tell why it is 'Fun to Be Black,' in spite of the heart break and the pain."

The cartoon book features pen and ink sketches and light-hearted humorous commentary about various aspects of Black culture and being Black in American society. One vignette includes an illustration of a Black woman with hoop earrings and an afro, with text on either side of her reading, "It's fun to be black with nice full lips to kiss better...A nice wide nose to smell better, two nice big dark eyes to see better, and other nice big things to make us feel better." 

Alice Crolley Browning worked as a teacher for over forty years, and also as a writer and publisher for many of those years, publishing periodicals including Negro Story, a literary magazine featuring important Black writers, and writing some of her own stories she submitted to periodicals along the way. Browning also founded the International Black Writers Conference in 1970, and served as the event's director until 1984, just a year before her death.