"Elmer Simms Campbell" (1906-1971)

Was the first black  cartoonist to work for  national publications. Born in Saint Louis, he lived in Chicago for three years. After returning to St.Louis, he was discouraged from becoming a commercial artist because the field was not a viable one for African-Americans. After working with a local commercial art studio for one year, he moved to New York where he hoped to become a freelance cartoonist. There he worked for a local advertising studio and sold some of his work to other artists.Elmer enrolled in the Academy of Design and also studied at the Art Students League under printmaker George Grosz. After publishing his well-known "A Night-Club Map of Harlem"That included such sites as Lafayette Theatre, Small's Paradise, and the Cotton Club,He began to receive a number of ),Cosmopolitan,Redbook, New Yorker, Opportunity, Playboy,and syndicated features in 145 newspapers.Elmer created the character "Esky,"the pop-eyed mascot who appeared on the cover of Esquire.Elmer worked tirelessly and became one of the highest paid commercial artists,often creating three-hundred full-page drawings a year.In 1957 Elmer and his family moved to Switzerland. Fourteen years later,after his wife died, he returned to the U.S. and died in White Plains, New York. Elmer is best known for his representations of voluptuous women,frequently in harlem setting.