12/25/2025
In 1957, Disney had never hired a Black animator.
When they finally did, they did not announce it.
They just let him prove everyone wrong.
Burbank, California.
A 21 year old artist named Floyd Norman walked through the gates of Walt Disney Studios carrying a sketchbook and a dream. No press release. No diversity headline. No acknowledgment that a color line had quietly been crossed.
One animator looked at his portfolio and said, This kid can draw.
So Floyd drew.
He animated woodland creatures for Sleeping Beauty, giving them grace and life one frame at a time. He brought humor and motion to The Sword in the Stone. He helped shape the world of The Jungle Book.
And Walt Disney noticed.
Walt pulled Floyd from animation into story development, an honor reserved for artists who understood more than movement. Floyd understood heart. He understood humor. He understood why characters mattered.
All while being the only Black face in the room.
In an industry that barely acknowledged Black people except as stereotypes.
In an America still tangled in segregation.
Floyd did not make speeches.
He just showed up and did extraordinary work.
In the late 1960s, he left Disney not because he failed, but because he wanted more freedom. He co founded Vignette Films and began creating educational films with Black children as heroes, thinkers, and adventurers long before Hollywood was ready to imagine them that way.
Then Disney called him back.
Then Pixar.
Then Disney again.
His pencil moved through generations. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Mulan. Toy Story 2. Monsters, Inc..
Hand drawn cels became computers. Studios merged. Technology transformed everything.
Floyd Norman never stopped drawing.
When Disney tried to retire him at 65, Floyd refused. He called himself “re fired” instead. Not because he needed money. Not because he had something to prove.
Because he loved the work.
Today, Floyd Norman is 90 years old. He still walks into Disney and Pixar with a sketchbook, mentoring artists who were not even born when he started. His career stretches from Sleeping Beauty to active work in the 2020s. Sixty five years of making magic.
But his legacy is bigger than being first.
It is the doors that stayed open because he walked through them with excellence.
It is the generations of Black animators who can point to him and say, He showed us it was possible.
When asked about bitterness, about barriers, about recognition that came late, Floyd smiled and said, “I was too busy having fun to be bitter.”
That might be the most radical thing of all.
He loved animation. So he animated.
They said there was no place for him. So he made one.
When they tried to push him out, he kept drawing.
From Walt Disney’s story room to Pixar’s digital revolution, Floyd Norman drew himself into history.
One frame at a time.
One character at a time.
One joyful, brilliant sketch at a time.
That is not just a career.
That is a revolution.
