Aaron McGruder

Aaron Vincent McGruder (born May 29, 1974, in Chicago, Illinois) is a cartoonist, writer, and television creator best known as the creator of The Boondocks — one of the most politically charged, culturally significant, and widely read comic strips in American newspaper history. Raised in Columbia, Maryland after his family relocated when he was six, McGruder began The Boondocks in 1996 as a webcomic before debuting it in the University of Maryland campus newspaper The Diamondback. He graduated from Maryland with a degree in African American Studies in 1997. After signing with Universal Press Syndicate, the strip launched nationally in April 1999 in 160 newspapers — the largest single newspaper comic strip debut in history — and within six months was running in over 200 publications. Following two young Black brothers from inner-city Chicago transplanted to a mostly white suburb, The Boondocks used the lens of childhood to deliver unsparing satire on race, politics, hip-hop, and American culture. The strip ran through 2006 and produced five collected editions. McGruder adapted The Boondocks into an animated television series for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim (2005–2014), which became a cultural landmark in its own right. He also created Black Jesus for Adult Swim (2014–). In 2004, he co-authored Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel with filmmaker Reginald Hudlin, illustrated by Kyle Baker, about a Black secession following a stolen presidential election. McGruder received the NAACP Image Award Chairman's Award in 2002. He is based in Los Angeles.