jul 1, 1966 - First Black Superhero

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In 1966 is when the first black superhero appeared in a comic book, which was Black Panther. He was first introduced in Fantastic Four #52, and then later got his own comic in 1977. Black Panther, also known as T’Challa, has superhuman abilities and reflexes and is from Wakanda, which is a super technologically advanced kingdom in Africa. Black Panther was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and this was a highly controversial move because it was rare to even think about featuring a black superhero, especially in the famous Marvel comics. The reason the creation of Black Panther was impactful is because of the events that were occurring during the 1960s. In the 1960s is when the Civils Right Movement was at its peak, and when Black Americans were fighting for equal rights and wanted unjust laws to change. Along with the fight for justice, black people did not get a lot of representation in the mass media, which is something Lee and Kirby took note of. Both explained how the creation of Black Panther was to have black representation because it was unfair how comics were neglecting black representation and Lee and Kirby concluded they did not want to assimilate to what the rest of the comic industry was doing which was neglecting their black readers. The creation of Black Panther changed the comic industry because it encouraged the creation of more black characters that were not depicted in a way that was racist/stereotypical. It allowed for the comic industry to not be afraid to venture off in creating black characters with a powerful storyline and inspire black people. For example, in 1969 is when Marvel came out with the Flacon, who was the first African American superhero! The creation of the first black superhero, Black Panther, showed the audiences how black people deserve well written characters and not be confined with black representations which were offensive and racist. Black Panther did not only empower black people but also the comic industry to break the negative representation of black people.

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