For some reason, I have never been able to sign in on the Black Gate site, so I will make this comment here. This issue contains one of the most striking for its time illustrations that I can remember. There is a picture by Don Sibley on pages 44-45 illustrating Clifford Simak's story "Kindergarten". The couple who are the main characters have met a man who is just referred to as "the soldier". The picture shows the soldier walking away from the couple. What I think makes this remarkable is that the soldier appears to me to be Afro-American. I can not recall any other science fiction illustrations from around 1953 in which a character whose race is not specified in the text is drawn as being Afro-American.
If I am correct that the drawing is intended to show the soldier as Afro-American, then Sibley and the editor, H.L.Gold, should get credit for trail-blazing.
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For some reason, I have never been able to sign in on the Black Gate site, so I will make this comment here. This issue contains one of the most striking for its time illustrations that I can remember. There is a picture by Don Sibley on pages 44-45 illustrating Clifford Simak's story "Kindergarten". The couple who are the main characters have met a man who is just referred to as "the soldier". The picture shows the soldier walking away from the couple. What I think makes this remarkable is that the soldier appears to me to be Afro-American. I can not recall any other science fiction illustrations from around 1953 in which a character whose race is not specified in the text is drawn as being Afro-American.
If I am correct that the drawing is intended to show the soldier as Afro-American, then Sibley and the editor, H.L.Gold, should get credit for trail-blazing.
I'm not sure I have that issue. I'll have to dig around and see.
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