Whyte, Garrett
(born: September 5, 1914 - died: October 27, 2000)Garrett Whyte is remembered for his art and for his comic strip "Mr. Jim Crow" in the Chicago Defender. The comic strip was one of the first Civil Rights graphic satires. Another of his cartoons, the arm of the NAACP raising a torch, is at the Library of Congress. The comics were only one of Whyte's accomplishments, he was a fine artist, a muralist, an art educator, and a civil rights activist. Exhibition locations where his work was shown include his alma mater, North Carolina A&T; the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago; East Chicago Public Library; Purdue University; Camp Wolters, TX; and other locations.
Whyte was born in Mt. Sterling, KY, according to the Kentucky Birth Index. He was the son of John and Julia Garrett Whyte, and the husband of Harrezelle E. McCrumby Whyte. Louisville, KY, is given as Garrett Whyte's birth location on his Army enlistment records. His last name was sometimes spelled as "White." He was a World War II Army veteran. While in the military, Whyte was an artist at the Bugle, a newspaper that was published by the African American enlisted men at Camp Wolters, TX. Whyte's first service mural was titled "In Training," the mural was completed at Camp Wolters.
Prior to joining the Army, Garrett Whyte completed an art education degree at North Carolina A&T State University in 1939. He was employed as the staff artist and cartoonist at the Norfolk Journal and Guide, a newspaper in Virginia, and he had worked at the Louisville Defender in Louisville, KY. He was also an artist for the Chicago Defender, taught art at Dunbar Vocational High School in Chicago, and was an art professor in the Chicago City College System [now City Colleges of Chicago]. Whyte was also an artist for a number of organizations before he retired in 1980.
Garrett Whyte died in Beaufort, South Carolina in 2000.
For more see "Artist completes Camp Wolters mural," The Call [Kansas City, MO], 08/28/1942, p.22; "Earn four of eight top 'Handicapped' Awards," Chicago Tribune, 09/02/1963, S Section 2, p.9; J. D. Stevens, "Reflections in a dark mirror: comic strips in Black newspapers," Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 10, issue 1 (Summer 1976), pp. 239-244; Who's Who Among African Americans, 1975-2006; "Art: Too many trees," Daily News [Greensboro, NC], 08/22/1939, p.6D. For an example of the "Mr. Jim Crow" comic strip, see strippersguide.blogspot.com. See Bluford Library Archives: Garrett Whyte ’39 – Muralist and Civil Rights Cartoonist, a North Carolina A&T webpage.