My husband is a comic book collector and increasingly our home is being taken over by action figures. But like most comic book characters, these action figures are white, white, and, um, white. I’d like my son to recognize diversity in superheroes, so I went looking for some African American and Black superheroes. (Future posts will look at other superheroes of color.) Here are the resources I found:

• List of black superheroes at Wikipedia
• The Museum of Black Superheroes
• Comic Books Enrich Their Character Mix
• Glyphs blog at PopCultureShock
• East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention
• Africomics
• Paradigm: Ethnic superheroes and their creators
• The Ormes Society: “an organization dedicated to supporting black female comic creators and promoting the inclusion of black women in the comics industry as creators, characters and consumers”
• The Carl Brandon Society: “dedicated to addressing the representation of people of color in the fantastical genres such as science fiction, fantasy and horror. We aim to foster dialogue about issues of race, ethnicity and culture, raise awareness both inside and outside the fantastical fiction communities, promote inclusivity in publication/production, and celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in science fiction, fantasy and horror.”
• Pioneering cartoonists of color

Want to buy superhero of color figures for your kids or your favorite comic book geek action figure collector? Here are some available online:

• Deluxe Kendra Action Figure from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Slayer Kendra from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Palisades Toys)
• Niobe from The Matrix
• Morpheus from The Matrix:

• Limited-Edition Storm from the X-Men
• X-Men Classics Storm Action Figure
• Set including Green Lantern III
• Green Lantern Action Figure
• Green Lantern Resin Figurine:

• Green Lantern III
• Green Lantern Mini Maquette Statue
• Justice Lord Green Lantern Action Figure
• X-Men Deluxe Edition Bishop
• X-Men Missile Flyers Future Bishop Action Figure
• Marvel Legends Sentinel Series Black Panther Figure
• Marvel Legends Mojo Series Luke Cage Action Figure
  Star Wars Mace Windu action figure, featuring Samuel L. Jackson:

• Star Wars Mace Windu action figure (small)
• Frozone from The Incredibles
• Marvel Legends Series 5 Blade Action Figure