Ormes was born Zelda Jackson on August 1, 1911 in Pittsburgh, Penn. After high school, Ormes took a job with “The Pittsburgh Courier” as a proofreader, eventually moving to writing and reporting in 1930. In 1937, Ormes produced the comic strip “Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem,” which followed the life of a Mississippi teenager hoping to make it big as a singer at the famed Cotton Club.

SOURCE: https://blackamericaweb.com