The 1937–1938 comic strip Torchy Brown, in "Dixie to Harlem" by Jackie Ormes would have been distinctive if only for its heritage—it was almost certainly the first strip to be written and drawn by an African American woman. In 53 weekly episodes, Ormes sketched the experiences of a glamorous heroine who moves from her home in the South to a new life and career at New York's famed Cotton Club.

At first glance, Torchy's adventures might seem as incredible as a fairy tale. The opening panels present a rural Southern community that is nearly idyllic, as Torchy is cared for by a loving aunt and uncle, and freely moves through a pastoral terrain. While journeying to the North, the character is, in the best fairy tale tradition, beleaguered by ominous predators and aided by mysterious helpers. Once in New York, she instantly achieves success as a performer at the Cotton Club, where she mingles comfortably with such African American musical legends as Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.

Despite the strip's gestures in the direction of the fantastic, Torchy Brown clearly reflects significant cultural concerns. Through her exploration of an entertainer's lifestyle in the almost mythic setting of the Cotton Club, Ormes celebrated and amplified the success of real African Americans who had achieved wide respect for their skill as hardworking and talented professionals. Indeed, so many sequences take place in or around the Cotton Club with Torchy in rehearsal or performance that the Club becomes a symbol for a place where African Americans are measured by what they have to offer, where they are looked upon by a white audience as admirable, instead of being overlooked or looked through. In several episodes, moreover, Ormes explicitly and provocatively likened the artistry of improvisation found in swing music and tap dance with the form of her own comic strip. In the process, Ormes left a record of a moment in the evolution of jazz that also aligned the comic strip, as a mass culture form, with another popular art.

Ormes clearly enjoyed Torchy's triumphs at the Cotton Club, which mirrored her own success as a cartoonist, but she never shied away from the darker possibilities that made Torchy's victories so important. Even during Torchy's "fantastic" journey to New York, the all-too-real world of segregation laws intrudes when Torchy must decide which train car to board. Ormes knew how quickly a newcomer can misread signs and fall into danger. By placing her character in authentic situations where much depends on the courage of the individual, she expanded her social commentary to offer real-life lessons for her audience.