Cartoonist Profile
Keith Knight
“Keith Knight,” African American Literature Book Club. https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Keith+Knight#:~:text=Knight%27%20awards%20include%3A,career%20achievement%20at%20Comic%2DCon. Sept.17, 2023
Overview
My cartoonist is Keith Knight. A native of the Boston area, Keith is currently 57 years old and best known for three of his comic strips called, The K Chronicles, (Th)ink, and The Knight Life. He creates humorous cartoons often with political undertones. He is a very famous, world renowned cartoonist who is well respected in the field. A TV show was even created that is dedicated and based off of his comics, named Woke. The show debuted in 2020. Woke is an American comedy that follows the life of a Black cartoonist who is profiled by law enforcement. The show aired on Hulu for two seasons and sixteen episodes from September 9th, 2020 until April 8th, 2022, (Wikipedia). Keith, his wife, and his two children appear as cartoon characters in the comic strips The K Chronicles, and The Knight Life. Keith’s work has captured the attention of many people. Fellow cartoonists and other influential artists have very positive things to say about him. For example, Gary Trudeau, the creator of “Doonesbury” said, “KEITH KNIGHT IS MAPPING OUT A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN VECTOR OF THE VAST CARTOON UNIVERSE,” (K Chronicles). Another example is Boston’s Weekly Dig said of Knight, “INTELLIGENT, PROGRESSIVE, AND DAMN FUNNY COMICS ARE WHAT EVERY PAPER NEEDS AND THAT’S WHAT KEITH DELIVERS EVERY WEEK,” (K Chronicles). It is very clear that Keith Knight is a well respected and well enjoyed cartoon writer his peers, and his accomplishments certainly speak for themselves.
Early Life
Keith Knight was born on August 24, 1966 in Malden, Massachusetts. Malden is a suburb of Boston where Keith spent most of his early life. Keith has a twin sister named Tracy who he was very close with growing up. Keith attended Daniels School for Elementary school which now he said is apartment buildings and condos. Keith said that him and his sister joined the Major Works program at the Maplewood school, (Neighborhood View). This program was for the so called “smart” students. According to an interview Keith did with Neighborhood View, he was recently told by his mother that he wasn’t chosen for the program, his twin sister was, and they didn’t want her to be alone, so he got permission to be able to join the program as well. Keith said this time period between 4th and 6th grade was what really helped him become more creative, and he still to this day has friends from this period of his life. Keith remembers him and his twin sister to be the only two black kids at the Maplewood school.
Keith then went to Lincoln Junior High where his curiosity in drawing cartoons really took off. He spent a lot of his time drawing and writing cartoons. Then Keith went to Malden High School where he did cartoons for the Malden High School Blue & Gold and fully immersed himself in writing cartoons and drawing them, (Neighborhood View).
For college, Keith went to and graduated from Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts. He got a degree in graphic design, media and communication.
Keith has lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and currently resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his family. In a quote from Keith’s official website, it speaks about the influence Keith had in the world and how the time period he grew up in contributed to his work. The quote reads,”Keith Knight is part of a generation of African-American artists who were raised on hip-hop, infusing their work with urgency, edge, humor, satire, politics and race,” (kchronicles.com). This quote encapsulates the work Keith Knight has done in an accurate and concise way.
Early Career
Keith had a different background than many other famous writers, however he is well accomplished in his field. The African American Literature Book Club said, “Knight drove out to San Francisco in the early ’90s and began taking drugs. It was here in the Bay Area where Knight developed his trademark poorly rendered, barely thought-out, last-minute cartooning style that has amused dozens for over a decade,” (AALBC). Knight has many awards to be particularly proud of including, “In 2007, The K Chronicles won the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip.
Keith has had much success in his career. The K Chronicles has been airing since the 1990s and won the Glyph Award Best Comic Strip in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The Glyph Comics Awards “recognizes the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to Black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact,” (Glyph Awards). In 2007, the K Chronicles won the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip. This award is in named after writer and artist Harvey Kurtzman. They were founded in 1988 and are voted on entirely by industry professionals, (Wikipedia). In 2010, Keith received a Comic-Con Inkpot Award for career achievement at Comic-Con. This award is “given to individuals for their contributions to the worlds of comics, science fiction/fantasy, film, television, animation, and fandom services,” (Comic-Con). Overall, after Keith graduates from college in 1990, he goes on to earn multiple distinguishable awards in the first twenty years of his career. Some artists do not win any of these awards in their career, and Keith has won some multiple times. It is clear his work and incredible contributions to the cartoon world are being noticed and rewarded.
Comic Strip Overview
The comic from Keith Knight that I want to analyze is as follows:

Keith Knight, (Th)ink, https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Keith+Knight#:~:text=Knight%27%20awards%20include%3A,career%20achievement%20at%20Comic%2DCon.
Analysis
This comic shows the political undertones of his work, while keeping it comical for his desired audience. Keith is comparing similar images but of two different groups of people, and proving a point. A quote from our class “How To Read Nancy” article describes this cartoon well. The quote reads, “To say that Nancy is a simple gag strip about a simple-minded slot-nosed kid is to miss the point completely,” (HTRN). This is the same thought process behind Keith Knight’s work. He gives you such important undertones in his work that you need to pay close attention to the comics to understand more of his point than just the humor in the comics. Another factor of this comic that is interesting to me is the design choices of the comic. The animations of the people on each side are interesting and unique to me. For starters, the design makes it look like Keith is inhumanely depicting the bodies. The left side has six bodies piled up, but the way they are drawn they almost look inhumane and animalistic, like chickens. The right side is more bodies piled up but more in a sexual and enticing way. I also think its interesting that the area around the two main focuses are almost exactly similar. I am curious what his thoughts are about this design choice. The other part of the comic that interests me is the man in the corner in both of the pictures. The facial expressions are very similar, if not exactly the same, but the coloring is different in each side. I also am curious what was the reasoning for this design choice as well as making the comic black and white. I have noticed while researching and looking at tons of Keiths work that some of the work is in black and white, and some of the work is in color. I cannot seem to find a pattern or particular reason behind this.
I chose to analyze a comic strip from (Th)ink, however in reality Keith’s most famous comic series is The K Chronicles. The strip has aired every week since the 1990s. The K Chronicles is based on Keith Knights life. He aims to make people laugh with this strip and talks about lifes up and downs. On Keiths official website it says, “Fresh, sharp, topical, and edgy, the strip offers a strange and hilariously twisted view of the world through the eyes and pen of your average, African-American male. The K Chronicles threatens to bring the funny back to the funny pages,” (The K Chronicles). The K Chronicles showcases the incredible art Keith Knight is capable of, while also showing off his comedic side. The cartoons themselves are very cartoony looking and most strips include some really vibrant, bombastic art, but Keith also incapsulates his audience with sharp, but critical commentary about race and politics.
Later Career
Keith Knight carried his success later into his career, and is still a very important figure in the cartoon world and the world as a whole today. In 2022, Keith was asked to speak at his college alma mater, Salem State University’s commencement ceremony. Keith became a Doctor of Humane Letters on the day of his speech. During his speech Keith notably said, “Treat the next phase of your life as being another college campus you want to conquer. That’s the way I looked at it when I left here and moved to San Francisco: I knew I just had to find where the good bathrooms are, where the cheap burritos are… and how am I going to get to the newspaper?” (Salem News). Shortly after Keith gave this speech, also in May of 2022, he was asked back to his hometown of Malden, Massachusetts to unveil a mural he created for the city. Keith created a mural for the Malden arts mural series. The mural is along the Northern Strand Bike Trail. Keith said a few words about his hometown in an interview with the Neighborhood View, “I applaud its diversity. I also applaud how it embraces the arts. That to me is just super important because, I say this all the time, art makes everything better,” Keith said of his hometown of Malden. (Neighborhood view). Keith attended all of these events with his wife, and two sons by his side. He is being awarded for all the amazing work he has done, and continues to do in his career. Keith and his family currently reside in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Wikidata Profile
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3194744
In Keith’s wikidata page, it only features very basic facts about him. It is a very surface level report on him. The page reveals that Keith’s full name is Keith Edgar Knight Jr. and he is classified as an American cartoonist and musician. However, when you scroll down to the occupation section, it says Keith is a cartoonist, musician, comics artist, and illustrator. Then, the next section says “field of work” and states rapping, hip hop music, and comics. The wikidata page features an image of him, his sex, his country of citizenship, his given and family name, and more basic information about Keith. His college is listed and awards, and place and date of birth are also listed. Keith is a very impressive cartoon artist with tons of accolades and an impressive resume he has built up. It is unfortunate that all of those accomplishments aren’t fully listed on the page. Lastly, more towards the bottom of the page, it shows the official website of Keith and what seems to be codes under “identifiers.” This wikidata page is an easily accessible and quick spot to get basic information on Keith, but that is truly all it is. It could be much more decorated with more interesting facts about him, his life, and his incredible work, and it could, and should, feature images of Keith’s cartoon strips.
TimelineJS: Keith Knight
[timeline src=”https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dPoSEdjoqA1ADQjBDI761nMqyTBDxXdzqwWUwq5Pfqk/edit#gid=0″ width=”100%” height=”650″ font=”Default” lang=”en” version=”timeline3″ ]
My timeline serves as an informative and educational timeline of the life and major life accomplishments of Keith Knight. To begin, I start from the very beginning of Keith’s life. I go back to his hometown in Malden, Massachusetts to discuss his early life and early education. Thanks to an article written by the Neighborhood View, I was able to learn more about how the schools Keith attended growing up shaped him into the successful and accomplished cartoonist he is today. It is important to note that Keith got a lot of his creativity and inspiration from the programs he was a part of and the schools he went to as a child, tween, and teenager. He started his cartoon career on the younger side, practicing writing and drawing from middle school age on, and made cartoons for his high school.
I then go on to highlight his accomplishments that came about from the K Chronicles, Keith’s most popular cartoon strip. It has aired once a week since the 1990s and has won multiple awards. I felt it was incredibly important to spend a lot of time researching the K chronicles and all of its awards because of how much fame of Keith’s stemmed from it. I mention others of his popular comics in the introductory biography, but decided to only put an emphasis on K chronicles. I thought it was important to include the many awards Keith won for this strip because it proves how positively received the strip is. It’s been airing for decades now, and still is very popular. Another reason I solely chose to highlight the K Chronicles is because the show Woke was created based off of it. The show Woke features the character “Keef Knight” who is a black cartoonist who gets profiled by law enforcement. He is on the verge of success when an incident occurs. The show is based off of the comics written by Keith and Keith’s life. It shows the importance of his work in a politically complex environment.
Lastly, I focused on some moments that took place more recently in Keith Knight’s life. Being chosen to speak at your alma mater’s graduation ceremony is an honor that most people do not receive. I found it necessary to include this in my timeline to show the impact Keith has had in the world and his immediate community. Also, the messages and advice he gave to the graduates shows a good ode to his personality and what is important to him and what helped him be so successful. Lastly in my timeline I included the mural installation Keith made for the city of Malden. It shows how he gave back to his community and the overall importance it had in his life.
Some gaps in my research include more about the graphic designs and decisions Keith made throughout his career. This is something I never found much research on, but could have looked deeper into if I wanted to go another direction with my timeline. I decided to go into more of Keiths life and his accomplishments and awards to highlight his career. I hope my audience will gain an understanding and appreciation for the incredible career Keith Knight has had. I also want the audience to realize the impact he has had on his personal communities, the comics world, and the entire world as a whole.
Conclusion
Overall, Keith Knight is a cartoonist with many earned accolades and has proved his relevance and success time and time again in the cartoon world and beyond. Coming from a suburb of Boston, Keith used his surroundings and his childhood for inspiration in creating prosperous cartoon strips. He is an African American artist who used his platform, life experiences, and his humor and wit to tell important stories of racial injustices and prejudices. Keith Knight inspires generations after him to use their gifts and talents for the better and bring awareness to the political issues our country, and our world is faced with. Keith is so impactful to his audiences because no matter how important and relevant of a message or story he is sharing through his work, he finds a way to add his own twist to it. He is famous for his comedic relief in telling and showing hard truths, and people are grateful for that. Keith has won the Glyph Award Best Comic Strip in 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the Harvey Kurtzman Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip in 2007 and received a Comic-Con Inkpot Award for career achievement at Comic-Con in 2010. On the more recent end of things, Keith gave the commencement speech at his alma mater, Salem State University in May of 2022. Also in May of 2022, Keith went back to his hometown where he was asked back to unveil a mural he created for the city. Keith created a mural for the Malden arts mural series which is along the Northern Strand Bike Trail. These types of accolades are what prove what kind of person Keith Knight is. He is one to give back to his community and be an inspiration to the next group of artists and people. Currently, Keith Knight travels to give lectures and speak in sessions about the cartoon world. He also participates in shows all across the country. He is a coach/mentor to kids who are trying to become comic artists. On Keith’s website it discusses that he offers one on one zoom or phone sessions. A quote from this section of Keith’s website states, “Keith Knight is a legend. Take his offer seriously.” – Leigh Dragoon (The K Chronicles). Keith Knight certainly is a legend; he has altered the cartoon world for the better by taking risks in the industry and pushing boundaries. Keith will forever be known as an immensely successful author and artist in the comic world. As for now, Keith currently resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his family.
Created By
My name is Carly Cohen, I am a senior Rhetoric and Communications major with a minor in Journalism. I am a D1 tennis player at the University of Richmond and I am from Cleveland, Ohio. I am very proud of my work and research this semester and aim to educate the public about the many accomplishments of the cartoonist I chose to profile in the very beginning of the semester, Keith Knight.
Works Cited
Annedr. “Cartoonist Keith Knight Reflects on Growing up in Malden, Education, Race and the Value of Art.” Neighborhood View, 22 Aug. 2023, neighborhoodview.org/2022/07/12/cartoonist-keith-knight-reflects-on-growing-up-in-malden-education-race-and-the-value-of-art/?fbclid=IwAR2sE3IUaxdSV81r2nsQ9K42apH7rZMhAOaDJMVi20tM5_lGDVV6FVupEg0.
Blair, Elizabeth. “In ‘woke,’ Cartoonist Keith Knight Drew from a Real-Life ‘Wake-up Call.’” NPR, NPR, 8 Sept. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/09/08/909707072/in-woke-cartoonist-keith-knight-drew-from-a-real-life-wake-up-call#:~:text=Woke%20is%20inspired%20by%20the,hop%20band%22%20the%20Marginal%20Prophets.
“Glyph Comics Awards.” East Coast Black Age Of Comics Convention, www.ecbacc.com/glyph-comics-awards.html. Accessed 18 Nov. 2023.
“Harvey Awards.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Sept. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Awards.
“Inkpot Awards – Comic-Con International.” Comic, 29 Sept. 2023, www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot/#:~:text=Comic%2DCon%20International’s%20Inkpot%20Awards,year%20they%20received%20their%20award.
Keef. “The Official K Chronicles and (Th)Ink Website.” The Official K Chronicles and (Th)Ink Website | Humorous Comics, Often with Political Overtones. The Official K Chronicles and (Th)Ink Website by Cartoonist Keith Knight!, 30 June 2023, kchronicles.com/.
“Keith Knight (Cartoonist).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Sept. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Knight_(cartoonist).
“Keith Knight .” The Largest, Oldest, and Most Popular Online Bookstore Dedicated to Selling Books by or about People of African Descent ★, aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Keith%2BKnight#:~:text=Knight%27%20awards%20include%3A,career%20achievement%20at%20Comic%2DCon. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.
Newgarden, Mark, and Paul Karasik. How to Read Nancy – Laffpix, www.laffpix.com/howtoreadnancy.pdf . Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.
“The Real-Life Inspiration for the TV Show ‘Woke.’” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Sept. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3U1VjOldJE.
“Uo Today Interview: Keith Knight, Cartoonist.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 Jan. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_wn5pXQLBI.
“WOKE (TV Series).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Aug. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke_(TV_series). Writer, Dustin Luca | Staff. “Knight Becomes Double-Viking as SSU Graduates 1,882.” Salem News, 22 May 2022, www.salemnews.com/news/knight-becomes-double-viking-as-ssu-graduates-1-882/article_995d5658-d91f-11ec-ad53-8f92701b4877.html.
Comments
One response to “Carly Cohen–“Keith Knight””
I really appreciate the way you talked about how Knights comics are successful and talked about how there was a TV series inspired by them. I learned how when comics are based off of humor they can really have an impactful meaning and people tend to praise comics that use comical aspects. Something I would like to know more about is Keith’s background. What exactly inspired him to make cartoons about these topics. You could try to improve the formatting of your post, focusing on the flow of the post.