About this item
Working class nurse. Mother of three. Labor organizer. Margaret Sanger - best known as the pioneer of birth control - was revolutionary in more ways than one. In Sabrina Jones's graphic novel Our Lady of Birth Control, the author illustrates the incredible life of Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) , framing the biography with her personal experiences of coming of age at the height of the sexual revolution.During her lifetime, Sanger transformed herself from working class nurse to an exuberant free-lover and savvy manipulator of the media, the law, and her wealthy supporters. Through direct action, propaganda, exile, and imprisonment, she ultimately succeeded in bringing legal access to birth control to women of all classes. Sanger's revolutionary actions established organizations that eventually evolved into Planned Parenthood Federation of America.Jones's autobiographical sections of Our Lady of Birth Control show her journey into activist art in response to the anti-feminist backlash of the Reagan era. From street theater and protest graphics to alternative comics, her path similarly follows in Margaret's footsteps, encountering versions of the same adversaries. Her striking imagery evokes the late 20th century, recalling the ashcan artists of The Masses, an acclaimed magazine of Sanger's formative years.Powerful, poetic, and extremely personal, this historical graphic novel is an in-depth look at the woman responsible for bringing freedom to the masses.
About the Author
Sabrina Jones has been writing and illustrating comics since the Reagan era. As a young art student, she was alarmed by the threats to women's reproductive rights, and joined a group of pro-choice activist artists called Carnival Knowledge. Wanting to cover women's issues in World War 3 Illustrated, editor Seth Tobocman convinced Sabrina to create her first comic strip. She has gone on to edit and contribute to many issues, including Bitchcraft, Female Complaints, and Life During Wartime.
?In the 1990s she co-founded Girltalk, an anthology of women's autobiographical comics, published by Fantagraphics.
?She has created nonfiction comics for Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World, Verso, 2005; The Real Cost of Prisons Project, 2006; Mixed Signals, a counter-recruitment tool in comic book form, Studs Terkel's Working: A Graphic Adaptation, The New Press, 2009; and FDR and the New Deal for Beginners, 2010.?Her first complete book is Isadora Duncan, A Graphic Biography, Hill & Wang, 2008.
She is working on a graphic adaptation of Race to Incarcerate, by Marc Mauer and the Sentencing Project.
?Born and raised in Philadelphia, Sabrina moved to New York to study painting at Pratt Institute, and later got an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She now lives in Brooklyn with novelist Steve Stern, and two cats, Percy and Jezebel. She paints scenery for film, theater and television, as a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829.
