Top 20 Best Black Cartoon Characters

It's amazing to me that it has taken Disney this long to introduce its first black princess, and while everyone at Disney is probably patting themselves on the back for introducing its first black princess in 'The Princess and the Frog' in the midst of America having its first black president, I'm disappointed to see that the princess in the movie might be spending much of it as a frog herself. So while we wait to see whether or not Princess Tiana becomes one of the best or worst black cartoon characters ever, here are some of my favorite black cartoon characters of all time:

Suga Mama Proud from 'The Proud Family' - Suga Mama is one of the biggest stars of this extremely smart cartoon series, despite not being the main character. She's not just one of the best black cartoon characters ever created, but also one of the greatest elderly animated characters, with a hip attitude, a love of wrestling, and a sassy way of talking. She's one of the strongest members of the Proud family, and the fighting spirit behind it.

Little Bill Glover from 'Little Bill' - There aren't many black cartoon characters for really young children to relate to, so it was refreshing to see Bill Cosby's book character brought to life for Nick Jr. Little Bill loves his pet hamster, the Blue Sox baseball team, and the astronaut Captain Brainstorm. He learns a good moral lesson on every show while still managing to have a good time, so this was really one of the best cartoons for keeping young children entertained while also teaching them something useful.

'Fat Albert' from 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids' - Fat Albert was a black, poor, and overweight cartoon character when there were no such cartoon characters on television. He was also extremely loveable, and his "Hey! Hey! Hey!" catch phase is still recognizable today. So we don't just have Bill Cosby to thank for one of the best sitcoms about a black family ever created, but also one of the best cartoons with black characters (actually I'd say both could be considered some of the best, period, black characters or not).

Valerie from 'Josie and the Pussycats' - Valerie from 'Josie and the Pussycats' is notable for featuring one of the first black cartoon characters in an animated series, and she was the first female black cartoon character ever of Saturday morning cartoons. Valerie was the smartest of the mystery-solving bunch/band, the lead singer, and could play different instruments, so it seems the show should have been called 'Valerie and the Pussycats'.

Token from 'South Park' - Chef would have been on this list, except for the way his character exited the show. So instead I'll put Token on here, whose name is a play on the term "token black guy". He's one of the most down-to-Earth and smartest characters on the show, and you really feel his pain when it comes to his classmates' stupidity.

Cleveland Brown from 'Family Guy' and 'The Cleveland Show' - Cleveland is one of the only black cartoon characters I can think of that went from being a supporting character to getting his own show, and I really hope he can hold his own among new characters on 'The Cleveland Show'. You've got to love the clever take on his name, his slow drawl, and his failed attempts to keep Peter out of trouble.

Susie Carmichael from 'Rugrats' - The evil Angelica met her match in sweet and smart Susie, who was always friendly to her baby friends despite being older, and was always there to help them out when Angelica tried to abuse her big-girl power. I often don't like cartoon characters that are added in later in cartoons, but Susie was a breath of fresh air and one of the best black cartoon characters introduced into a predominantly-white cast.

Huey from 'The Boondocks' - Huey is perhaps one of the most intelligent black cartoon characters ever created, a young boy that goes from living in a rough urban neighbor to a ritzy predominantly-white area with his Grandfather. He's constantly clashing with his brother Riley, whose hell-bent on keeping his street cred, a couple of rich wannabe white thugs wreaking havoc on the upscale neighborhood, and of course the ignorant people he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. He tells it like it is and always tries to do what's right, but it sometimes seems as if the whole world is against him.

Uncle Ruckus from 'The Boondocks' - 'The Boondocks' attacks racism in an interesting way, by not having a lot of blatantly racist white characters. Instead it opts for one blatant racist black character named Uncle Ruckus, who isn't racist against white people, but other black people (he's once even said he has the opposite disease that Michael Jackson had; he's really a white man whose skin has gotten darker and darker over the years). Uncle Ruckus is one of the funniest and most ridiculous cartoon characters ever created, and I've never seen a better way of attacking racism.

Green Lantern/John Stewart in 'Justice League' - The Green Lantern of the modern-day take on the Justice League is one of the most prominently-featured characters on the show, as well as one of the coolest black cartoon characters in a superhero series. He even gets two love interests on the show in Hawkgirl and Vixen, who is next on this list.

Vixen from 'Justice League Unlimited' - Aptly-named Vixen is a supermodel with superpowers that give her the abilities of animals. She's Green Lantern's love interest, and has teamed up with some other great female superhero cartoon characters like Huntress and Black Canary to try and take down Wonder Woman. Whether she's on the cat walk or using her cat moves, this is one of the most powerful black female cartoon characters you'll ever seen.

Dr. Hibbert from 'The Simpsons' - Dr. Hibbery always has a good wise crack to make, often at his patient's expense (and that patient is usually the accident-prone and unhealthy Homer Simpson). He laughs at inappropriate moments, charges outrageous prices for his services, and may not always be on-the-spot with his diagnoses, but what doctors ever are? If there's any testament to the fact that our healthcare system needs some work, it's Dr. Hibbert.

Virgil Ovid Hawkins/Static in 'Static Shock' - We all dream of being superheroes in high school, but unfortunately have to live vicariously through teen superheroes like Static, who has the superpower of being able to control electromagnetism. He spends his days doing normal high school stuff and dealing with those who were accidentally exposed to the same substance that he gained his powers from who don't use their own abilities for good. When it comes to cartoons about teen superheroes, this was really one of the best-executed ones.

Agent J from 'Men in Black: The Series' - At first it was hard to swallow the thought of Agent J being anyone other than Will Smith, animated or not, but with the same wit as Will Smith's character in the movies, the Agent J of the MIB cartoons quickly became one of my favorite black cartoon characters. The young upstart and his elder counterpart still had their classic clashes, and there were plenty of new cheeky and disgusting aliens for the two to deal with.

Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn from 'Sealab 2021' - When it comes to the best black cartoon characters of more adult fare, you've got to love Dr. Quinn and his efforts to save his underwater brethren from themselves. He's by far the most intelligent of the Sealab crew, but he is hardly ever able to talk any sense into Captain Murphy, who has a way of ruining (and sometimes ending) the lives of everyone through his extravagant and eccentric lifestyle and ideals. Dr. Quinn has a relationship with blonde Debbie, who, like most of the rest of the crew, isn't so brilliant herself.

Storm from 'X-Men: Evolution' - Storm has always been one of the most impressive of the X-Men to me, due to the regal way she carries herself (I guess anyone would behave like a goddess if they could control the weather). She's a very cool and calm woman, but she can, of course, stir up some extremely powerful storms when the situation calls for it. It's just a shame that, as one of the best female black cartoon characters, she isn't featured more predominantly in the series.

Carl Carlson from 'The Simpsons' - Carl is one of the quieter characters on 'The Simpsons', and is a loyal friend to Homer, despite the many stupid situations he gets his beer-drinkin' buds involved in. He's also a co-worker of Homer's that enjoys hanging out around the water cooler along with his ever-present and dumb-as-a-brick pal Lenny. He may not say much, but it's his silence that makes him so intriguing.

Dee Dee from 'Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels' - In this bizarre spoof of 'Charlie's Angels', Dee Dee is the black member of a trio of mystery-solving girls led, inexplicably, by a goofy-looking caveman. Dee Dee is the Velma of the gang of girls, being the brainy one that usually solves the mystery despite having to deal with a scaredy-cat, a blonde bimbo, and a clue-eating caveman that just seem to be around to make her own detective work a little more difficult.

Hermes Conrad from 'Futurama' - This Jamaican bureaucrat employed by the Planet Express is a limbo champ that's let himself go a little. He's got one hell of a nagging wife, so it's no wonder he finds solace in the quiet world of regulation and paperwork.

Winston Zeddemore from 'The Real Ghostbusters' - How could a cartoon character voiced by Arsenio Hall not be cool? Winston is one of the most level-headed of the Ghostbusters, and is excellent at solving mysteries. He's a fan of classic literature, 'The Alan Parsons Project', and the Ghostbuster in charge of taking care of their iconic car. Oh yeah, he's also the reincarnation of a shaman at war with a demon. So he's one of the most well-rounded black cartoon characters on this list.

If I've learned anything from creating this list of some of the best black cartoon characters of all time, it's this: there really aren't enough of them. But hopefully that will continue to change, and I'm really hoping Disney doesn't blow it with it's first (but hopefully not last) movie starring a black princess.