Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser

The novel is referenced by  Harvey Pekar in the film American Splendor (2003).

"In a 1911 review, H. L. Mencken wrote, "Jennie Gerhardt is the best American novel I have ever read, with the lonesome but Himalayan exception of Huckleberry Finn." Beautiful, vital, generous, but morally naïve and unconscious of social conventions, Jennie is a working-class woman who emerges superior to the succession of men who exploit her. There are no villains in this novel; in Dreiser's view, everyone is victimized by the desires that the world excites but can never satisfy." - The Library of America

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A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

FIRST PANEL: (two explorers, one black, one white, both with parkas and mustaches)

Black Explorer (Matt Henson): Like I said Peary, here it is.

White Explorer (Robert Peary): At last! It's mine!

SECOND PANEL: (we now see that Peary is strapped to a dog sled)

Peary: Now get me out of this sled so that I may be the FIRST to set foot on the NORTH POLE!!

THIRD PANEL:

Henson: Well, I already did, before we drove you here.

Peary: Oh, Henson, you know what I mean.

FOURTH PANEL: (Henson has a serious look on his face)

Heson: Yes, I see

FIFTH PANEL:

Henson: Man, it sure feels nice, being up here on the North Pole.

Peary: Henson let me out of this sled.

SIXTH PANEL:

Henson: Gonna do some squats.

Peary: HENSON

Henson: On the North Pole. Feels good.

SEVENTH PANEL

Henson: Phew! All those squats, they're making me tired! Who's ready to go home?

EIGHTH PANEL: (the dog sled races away. Henson is grinning ear to ear. Peary looks as mad as hell. )] - Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton



"It is always interesting to note that at the very same time that Canadian immigration was insisting black people couldn't handle the cold, a black man was the first non-native person to set foot on the North Pole. This is such a stupid country sometimes." -Kate Beaton

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National Geographic Profile of Matthew A. Henson