My first Superman, played by George Reeves on American television in the 1950s, needed help to catch the bad guys from Daily Planet colleagues Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White.
The Man of Steel I read about in the comics, my two brothers, and I passed back and forth in our family’s station wagon on summer vacations, was sometimes aided by Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog.
My last Superman, seen on the big screen in 2025, was depicted by David Corenswet and succored by Lois, Jimmy, Perry, a Justice Gang including Hawk Girl and Green Lantern, and a super-charged Krypto.
All twelve Superman films, naturally, starred white men in the title role. What do I mean by naturally? In I Am Not Your Negro, James Baldwin, as a young black man growing up in Harlem, says
Heroes, as far as I could see, were white, and not merely because of the movies but because of the land in which I lived, of which movies were simply a reflection.
Baldwin uttered those words decades ago. Today, in the United States, our films and other popular culture forms offer many black, brown, and female superheroes. (source)
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates has worked with Warner Bros. on a Black Superman project that, apparently, has been put on hold due to concerns that it is too woke. (source) Baldwin, who died in 1987, wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m thinking about James Baldwin and his language because I’ve just finished one of my top teaching experiences in a half-century-long career. You see me and the course title in the first photo.
My co-stars are below. They’re all there: Perry, Lois, The Justice Gang, even Krypto, who just came in the back door. We’re gathered at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel, Mexico, as part of its Lifelong Learning program.
But the superstar was Jimmy, and his words, especially his words.
The story of the Negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story. What can we do? Well, I’m tired…I don’t know how it will come about. I know that no matter how it comes about, it will be bloody; it will be hard. I still believe that we can do with this country something that has never been done before. We are misled here because we think of numbers. You don’t need numbers; you need passion.
So, Rodrigo S-C, when you ask about our superpower, this is my answer. Know enough to organize a learning experience around the ideal person and his words that might have been written yesterday or tomorrow, and the right people will come. And the combination will be magic!
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