Thanks to everyone who emailed me this past week to let me know about the Washington Post article celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doonesbury. The article featured Garry Trudeau’s top ten most defining comic strips over the the last half century. And wouldn’t you know it, there was a Lacey Davenport comic strip included among the list. It was from 1985 and entitled “Palm Beach Card Controversy” which led to a legislative change in Florida. You can read more about it below.
A Palm Beach, Fla., ordinance requires low-wage service employees to register with police and carry ID cards.
Trudeau: The legendary Mary McGrory told me that in all her years of writing columns, she wasn’t sure a single one of them had changed anything. That’s not a bar that cartoonists generally set for themselves, but in the case of my story arc about racist Palm Beach pass cards, the strip did have an impact. Exposure of the apartheid-like ordinance proved so embarrassing to Florida that the state legislature passed a law banning it. It was called the “Doonesbury Bill,” and the governor sent me the signing pen. Still, that’s the exception. Most of the time, expecting satire to make a difference is purely aspirational.
For the full article visit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/11/27/doonesbury-garry-trudeau-anniversary/
And, for those of you who are interested in watching the Millicent Fenwick talk held at the Hoboken Historical Museum on October 18, 2020, here is the YouTube link:
Six Degrees of Millicent 