Speaker uses comics for social activism

One comic book creator shows that comic books aren’t just for super heroes or humor — they can be a tool for activism.

Rachel Marie-Crane Williams has resurrected riots into the pages of comic books and has used art to empower female prisoners.

Williams will speak about gender in comics at 7:30 tonight in Burkhardt Building Room 109 as part of the Marilyn K. Cory Lecture Series.

Williams grew up reading the “funny pages” in the newspaper. Today, she ties together historic research with social activism through illustrated narratives.

Originally from North Carolina, Williams came into the art of comic narratives as an adult when she read “American Splendor,” in which author Harvey Pekar told the story of his life through comics.

The fact that it was a nonfictional, autobiographical series struck Williams since the stories were not the regular comic strips she was used to reading in the paper.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing,’” she said. “I started off as a reader more than a maker.”

Since Williams is both a qualitative researcher and an artist, she found that the world of nonfictional comics was a way to put these two strengths together.

Today, she is an associate professor at the University of Iowa and teaches classes about comics, which has inspired her to write a graphic novel of her own.

“I’ve taught about it, and now I’m doing it myself,” she said. “I don’t want to ask my students to do something if I haven’t done it myself.”

For this novel, Williams said she is focusing on the 1943 Detroit race riots, which marked the beginning of the civil rights movement.

“In our country, there is this pattern of war creating social turmoil and strife,” she said. “Then, we find an ‘other’ to blame for it.”

Williams also is an active volunteer in prisons where she teaches art to women. In hearing the stories of the inmates and learning about their lives, Williams questions the function of prisons and what they’re accomplishing.

“Prisons demonstrate how society continues to oppress people, such as women or minorities,” she said. “I like being able to make a difference in how these people see their opportunities in life.”

Throughout her career, Williams has had published work in the Jane Addams Hull House Museum, the Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education and the International Journal of Comic Art.

Deborah Mix, a Ball State English associate professor, said one interesting facet of William’s work is how she explores “how comics can shape our thinking about gender and ethnicity.”

“Williams writes her articles in comic book form, so she is using imagery to talk about imagery,” Mix said. “In this way, she is participating in visual culture.”

Amit Baishya, a Ball State English assistant professor, teaches several courses about comics and selected Williams to speak for the inaugural Marilyn K. Cory Speaker Series.

Baishya said Williams is “three in one” since she combines historic research with a public consciousness to create comics.

She often encourages others to write comic autobiographies, Williams said, which is a way for individuals to contribute to “a genre that is really flourishing right now.”

Williams said she hopes those who attend her talk can take away that “the world of comics is wide, and that there is more to it than just superheroes.”

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