Georg Olden
1920–1975 | BORN: Birmingham, Alabama | EDUCATION: Virginia State College
Pioneered on-air television graphics
Became the first notable African American graphic designer
Before Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King Jr. broke racial barriers, Georg Olden entered the traditionally white, male world of graphic design and became its first prominent African American practitioner.
Born in Alabama, Olden was the grandson of a slave who fought in the Civil War. During World War II, Olden left college to work as a graphic designer for the government’s Office of Strategic Services. In a testament to the benefits of networking, ...
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