Floyd Norman was the first Black animator hired by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, a legacy that will remain cemented in time. He was featured in a documentary, “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life” in 2016.
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Norman was born June 22, 1935 in Santa Barbara, Calif., a far cry from the Jim Crow South that he experienced later as a boy. Without the overt racism that was prevalent throughout much of America at the time, Norman grew up in a relatively sheltered environment which fueled his imagination.
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In 1956, Norman received a big break in his career when Disney hired him as a part-time animator when he was just 21. Prior to this, Norman worked as a cartoonist’s assistant. The first film Norman worked on was “Sleeping Beauty,” released …