ABOUT

Walt CarrWalter Carr Jr., better known as Walt, was born August 26, 1932 in Baltimore, Maryland. Educated in the Baltimore public school system, he left Booker T. Washington Jr. High school in the seventh grade when his family moved to Philadelphia. He graduated from Sulzberger Jr. High School in 1947 and moved on to West Philadelphia High School where he played football and ran track. His art skills continued to develop and for two years he attended Saturday art classes at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He graduated from WPHS in June 1950.

Walt CarrWalt enrolled at Morgan State College (now university) in the fall of 1950. He majored in Art Education and lettered in football as a walk-on and ran track his freshman year. He was initiated into the Alpha Iota chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. in December 1952. He graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science. degree.

Upon graduating, Walt worked briefly as an ordnance instructor at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Maryland. before working 4 years as a recreation leader for Baltimore City's Bureau of Recreation. In 1960, on the strength of his art portfolio, he was hired as an illustrator in the Visual Graphics Section at the Social Security Administration's national headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland.

It was during this period that Walt began his freelance cartooning career. Working primarily in the black press, he was a long-time contributor to Ebony magazine's "Strictly For Laughs" page. His cartoons appeared regularly in Negro Digest, Jet, Metropolitan, Black world and the ribald Players magazine. He even cracked Playboy magazine a couple of times.

Walt CarrRetiring as Section Chief of VGS in 1990 after 29 years of federal service, Walt began a new chapter in his cartooning career. In 1993, he switched from single-panel gag cartoons to editorial cartoons with a black perspective and spin with black newspapers being the target audience.

His motivation for writing “Just Us!” (a play on the word “justice”) was quite simple. He thought he had something that was worthy of sharing and not just with a Black audience. Other races of people can also learn something from the book which should help them to have a better understanding of where African Americans are coming from.

He feels that the direness of so many issues the Black community faces on a daily basis sometimes makes it difficult to provoke a laugh or a smile but, perhaps his cartoons will inform, educate or, hopefully, inspire the viewer.


Awards Over the Years Include:

  • National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO)
  • SSA Commissioner's Citation (the agency's highest award)
  • 100 Black Men of Maryland, Inc. Special Appreciation Award
  • Rotary Club of Woodlawn-Westview Harlow Fullwood Service Above Self Award
  • SSA Award for Patriots
  • Howard L. Cornish MSUAA Community Service Award
  • Towson University's Distinguished Black Marylanders Award

The Struggle Continues