Black Characters I Loved In 2020 (Cartoon Edition)
Television was definitely a major escape for me during this hellish year of 2020. Lucky for me, and anyone else who enjoys quality television, there were A LOT of good shows and movies that came out in 2020 that provided some prime entertainment. If there’s anything I love more than watching a good series, it's watching a good Black character in a good series. It’s been an uphill battle for Black people to get quality, non-stereotypical, diverse, representation in TV and film, but there are certainly more of these roles now than have been in years past. So I’ve decided to take a look back at the Black characters that stood out for me throughout 2020.
As I had a plethora of characters that I wanted to include in this list spanning across different genres, I’ve decided it’d be best to break this up into three separate stories for three separate categories: Cartoon, Anime, and Live Action series, selecting my favorite two characters from each. Obviously, as the title suggests, I’ll be starting with Cartoons. A fair warning before I get into the characters, there will be spoilers so read with caution and at your own risk.
The Williams Family — Craig of the Creek, season 3
Craig of the Creek is one of my favorite shows to drop from Cartoon Network in the past few years. It focuses on a young Black boy named Craig Williams (voiced by Philip Solomon) and his after school adventures with his two best friends, Kelsey and JP, as they explore the neighborhood creek alongside a wide variety of other kids that frequent the creek.
The thing I absolutely love about Craig of the Creek is its portrayal of a beautiful Black family. That’s why I couldn’t just choose one character from the show for this list because, literally, every member of the Williams family has a piece of my heart. In a sit down that Ashleigh Hairston, show writer and voice actress for the show, had with Dominique Fluker for Forbes, Ashleigh described Craig of the Creek saying
“the heart of this series depicts a young Black boy with his Black family, living his best Black life.”
And that couldn’t be more true.
Of course, you have Craig, a nine-year-old kid that is out-of-this-world creative and adventurous. Craig strives to explore every inch of the creek in the hopes of completing his very detailed map of the creek. Craig is good at making inventions that help him and his friends further explore the creek and also helps get them out of sticky situations. Craig is a natural-born problem solver and leader. Poor JP and Kelsey would be lost without the glue that is Craig. He can be headstrong and overly pursuant at times, but what 9-year-old isn’t. Nevertheless, Craig always learns from his adventures and mishaps. He touts very impressive drawing skills and has already hinted at a knowledge of character design, which makes me love him as a character even more because I wish I even knew what character design was when I was 9.
Craig’s mother, Nicole (voiced by Kimberly Herbert Gregory) is one of my favorite mother figures in cartoons. Nicole can be seen rocking different hairstyles throughout different episodes (mostly box braids or her natural hair in a wrap), which is a refreshing break from seeing characters with the same hairstyle throughout the entirety of the series. Nicole works as a school counselor and has been seen sporting an HU sweater in one episode, which sparked debate about which HBCU she attended, Howard or Hampton. But Ashleigh clarified that Nicole is indeed a Howard woman. I also loved her costume as Missy Elliott for the Halloween episode. It was *chef’s kiss* sublime and showed off her humorous side well.
Craig’s father, Duane (voiced by Terry Crews) is a computer programmer but also has a part-time job as a professional dad-joke teller. His relationship with all of his children warms my heart. Duane’s really the epitome of the type of corny father I strive to be when I have a child, so I really love to see it. The beach episode where he helps create an adventure for Craig and his friends after Craig felt his friends were clinging too much to his father is some really endearing stuff.
Then you have Craig’s older brother, Bernard (voiced by Phil LaMarr). Bernard is definitely that older brother that feels he’s too old to be bothered with the shenanigans of his kid siblings and is ready to prove to his folks that he’s grown. I think we’ve all been there. But even still, he always pulls through for Craig and Jessica and is honestly a great older sibling when it comes down to it.
There’s also Craig’s little sister, Jessica (voiced by Lucia Cunningham). She is like the cutest little sister of all time. I need a daughter with her personality type. Jessica is mad smart for her age and is all about her business. She’s adorable with a splash of sass, and anytime she tags along with her big brother “Craiggy” it’s guaranteed to be a wild ride.
Lastly, there’s Craig’s grandparents, his granny Jojo (voiced by Saundra McClain), and grandpa Earl (voiced by Phil Morris). Jojo was shown to have been a civil rights activist back in her younger years, and she is currently a member of the city council. Granny Jojo is super sweet and inspirational and the kids really look up to her. Earl and Craig have a great relationship, too, as they work on plenty of projects together, and he really helps propel Craig’s creativity. Earl also teaches Craig the value of patience and the importance of growing up.
I could really go on and on about the rest of the Williams family, but I’ve already had to cut down on the length of this section like four times, so I’m just going to leave it there. The thing I love about this whole family is that I can see bits and pieces of my own family in them, and you can really tell that they are unapologetically Black and showcase Black excellence. I highly encourage you to give this show a watch if you haven’t already. The third season is currently airing and you can watch that on the Cartoon Network app. And HBO Max has seasons one and two. I promise you won’t regret it.
Grace Monroe (voiced by Kirby Howell Baptiste) — Infinity Train, book 3
*Again, major spoilers ahead*
Keeping the Cartoon Network energy going as the second character comes from the anthology series, Infinity Train. Each season (book) follows the adventures of a different passenger on the train and their attempt at dealing with their own turmoils and personal traumas. Before I even go on I have to say, INFINITY TRAIN NEEDS TO BE RENEWED!!!! This show is literally so good. A 10/10. But, it’s in danger of not getting renewed for a fourth book. You can watch on HBO Max, and it won’t even take long. There are three books, each 10 episodes long, and only 12 minutes an episode. Just two hours per book. And if you’ve already watched, continue to run up the numbers and tell your friends.
Now let's get to it. In the third book, we follow Grace and Simon (voiced by Kyle McCarley), the leaders of a group on the train called the Apex, who go against the fundamental idea of the train and believe that the train is their right and theirs to control. Instead of trying to get their numbers down like passengers are supposed to, the Apex wreak havoc on the train in an attempt to get their numbers as high as possible.
Grace and Simon have been on the train since they were kids and, at the time their story takes place, they are about 17 or 18. The rest of the Apex are young children. Grace is seen to be very charismatic and is loved by the members of the Apex, but she is also pretty manipulative in getting what she wants out of people. Her second-hand man, Simon, who William Hughes oh so very accurately describes as a “future Proud Boy wannabe,” is rougher around the edges and very headstrong. I’m not going to go too much into the details of what took place throughout book 3, but the character development that Grace showcased throughout this book of the series is the reason I love her so much.
While trying to find their way back to the group after a mishap in one of the train cars, Grace and Simon run across Hazel (voiced by Isabella Abiera) and her mother figure, Tuba (voiced by Diane Delano). Hazel is a young girl on the train but, for some reason, her number doesn’t light up like other passengers. Tuba is a denizen on the train, and Grace and the other Apex members despise denizens and don’t view them as actual living beings. Both Hazel and Tuba are transformative for Grace and completely turn her life around as they begin to change her views on the beliefs that she once held about the train.
Grace and Simon try to wean Hazel off of Tuba as they try to get her to join the Apex. But, along the way, you can see Grace start to fall for Tuba and Hazel as they solve puzzles together, have snowball fights, and even dance together as they make their way through the different train cars. And then BOOM. Simon kills Tuba. This traumatic event causes Hazel to partially transform into a turtle, revealing that Hazel isn’t a passenger, but a denizen created on the train. This really sparks a change in Grace as she starts to question the morality of the way that the Apex has gone about life on the train as she realizes that this person that she had begun to care for deeply turned out to actually be the thing that she and the whole group had despised and referred to as “Nulls,” because they viewed them as less than nothing. One of my favorite scenes for Grace was the funeral that she and Hazel held for Tuba. In this scene, you can tell that Grace is confronting these emotions as Hazel asks her to say some words in honor of Tuba. This scene made me tear up a little bit, I can’t even lie.
At the same time, Grace’s number is also going down throughout all of this, and she is trying to figure out what this means for her, being that the Apex’s whole aim is to raise their numbers. On top of that, she’s got this clingy, lost boy, Simon who goes to the extremes of the Apex’s ideals and can’t give Grace a second to breathe while she deals with her own problems. It’s clear that Simon relies heavily on Grace, and Grace is trying to save face as the leader while also trying to re-evaluate her values. But, Grace is not yet a fully reformed character as she is still self-serving and manipulative at points. A prime example is when it is finally revealed, in front of Simon, that Hazel is a denizen. Grace (kind of badly) acts like this is her first time finding this out. Instead of defending Hazel and coming to her side, Grace rescues herself and even threatens to leave Hazel and calls her a null, which Grace had already previously explained to Hazel as meaning less than nothing. Pretty heartbreaking stuff. Andrew Kolandra describes Grace’s complexity well when he says:
In the end, after Simon loses his mind and turns on Grace and traps her in her memories, Grace is forced to confront her wrongdoings and shortcomings and, quite literally, has to take a look within herself. This is where we get a glimpse of Grace’s past and how she felt isolated as a child due to her parents keeping her in private lessons, away from other kids, and, basically, sheltered Grace from the world. This look into Grace’s past made me appreciate her relationship with Hazel even more because I feel like Grace saw a lot of herself in Hazel and wanted to keep her from feeling lonely the same way that she did when she was around her age. After looking at Grace’s past, we get my favorite scene in all of Infinity Train where three faux-Hazels confront Grace and just completely read her.
After eventually escaping her memories, Grace seems to be a transformed woman, which is evident from her taking the time to fix the origami denizens that Simon had stepped all over. However, it may be too late for Grace to get in Hazel’s good graces, as Hazel is off with Amelia trying to learn more about herself.
The series caps with Simon turning the Apex against Grace, Simon trying to kill Grace, and Grace saving Simon from dying just for Simon to, unsuccessfully, try to kill Grace, again. Simon is ultimately the one that dies, and Grace regains leadership over the apex and looks to reinvent how they do things.
Grace has a great redemption arc throughout this series and it was satisfying to watch. Grace’s redemption accurately showed just how difficult it is for one to truly redeem themselves as she struggled to stay consistent and showed hesitancy to even change. Grace’s arc also showed that even when a character is on the path, or completes the path, to redemption it won’t necessarily end in everyone accepting that. This is seen in how Hazel decides to distance herself from Grace. All in all, I think her story was beautifully done, and Owen Dennis, the creator of Infinity Train, deserves all the applause for a great anthology series. I desperately need this show to be renewed for a fourth book because I have a feeling it’ll be a Hazel and Amelia adventure and I NEEEEEEED that.
