Bertram A. Fitzgerald Jr.

Bertram A. Fitzgerald Jr. was a Harlem-born accountant who became one of the most important pioneers in Black comic book publishing history. Born on November 6, 1932, to Bertram Fitzgerald Sr. (originally from Jamaica, who had lived in Cuba before coming to the United States) and Hattie E. Sessoms (born in Virginia), Fitzgerald grew up in Harlem reading Classics Illustrated comics but was frustrated to see African American history either stereotyped or absent from their pages. After serving in the U.S. Air Force and graduating from Brooklyn College in 1956 with a degree in accounting, he eventually worked for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. In the mid-1960s, with no background in writing or publishing, he decided to create comic books that would inspire and educate African Americans — particularly young people who had never seen themselves represented accurately in print. The result was Golden Legacy Illustrated History Magazine, launched in 1966, which became one of the most significant educational comics series in American history — distributing approximately nine million copies of 16 volumes across schools, libraries, churches, and civil rights organizations. Shut out of mainstream distribution channels, Fitzgerald used his accounting skills to broker a landmark deal with Coca-Cola and subsequently with AT&T, Avon, McDonald's, Columbia Pictures, Exxon, and other major corporations to fund printing and distribution. He wrote seven of the sixteen Golden Legacy volumes himself. Later he published Fast Willie Jackson (1976–1977), an integrated teen humor comic with newsstand distribution, before a devastating fraud in 1983 — in which a con artist convinced his printer that he had purchased the rights to Golden Legacy — derailed his publishing career. Fitzgerald fought back through the courts, won, suffered two heart attacks during the battle, and never collected the damages he was awarded. He later worked for the New York City Mayor's Office. In 2005 he received the Glyph Comics Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award at ECBACC. Bertram A. Fitzgerald Jr. passed away on January 10, 2017 in New York City. His Golden Legacy series remains in print and his legacy as a trailblazer for Black educational comics publishing endures.