With ‘Stuntboy,’ Kareem Edouard and the We Up Collective look to showcase more Black boys in children’s animation
TheGrio...
Based on Jason Reynolds’ acclaimed illustrated novel and play, ‘Stuntboy’ aims to tackle conversations that can be difficult to navigate for parents and young Black boys, from anxiety to stress and more.
In the golden age of PBS broadcasting kids’ programming, there was something for everyone. “Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?” put geographical knowledge to the test in a game show. Bill Nye and LeVar Burton grew children’s interests in science and reading, as did shows like “Ghostwriter,” “Wishbone,” “Arthur,” and “The Magic School Bus.”
However, on television, the number of young Black characters has dwindled. It’s something kids media consultant turned showrunner Kareem Edouard and his team are looking to change.
Edouard, an associate professor at Drexel University and Kevin Clark of the We Up Collective have partnered together with Jason Reynolds to turn Reynolds’ critically-acclaimed middle-grade illustrated novels “Stuntboy, in the Meantime” into a 2D YouTube series. A bigger batch of episodes is set to be released in conjunction with the upcoming 2026-27 school year.
The Haitian-American, who first cut his teeth directing music videos for hip-hop groups Smif-n-Wessun and Guru of Gangstarr, is no stranger to animated television. Serving as the producer for “Work It Out Wombats” on PBS alongside his wife, he saw an opportunity in Black-led animation, particularly in discussions of STEM and STEM literacy.
With a laugh, he told theGrio in an exclusive conversation that one of the biggest tells about animation regarding Black characters is the hair design for men.
I always check your black character by looking at his fade,” he says with a laugh. “If the fade is not there, I know it wasn’t made by Black people.”
By the numbers, animation centered around Black characters has dwindled to a point parents have vocally called it out. According to a 2022 Common Sense Media study conducted by the University of Michigan, more than 60 percent of YouTube videos watched by children eight and under feature no BIPOC characters at all, in an era where YouTube is often the primary source for animated shows for young children.
There have been outliers, such as Cartoon Network’s “Craig From The Creek” and “Gracie’s Corner,” which is primarily centered around early development. Edouard and his team are looking to capitalize on a space that many view as helping inspire and empower young minds before they even reach middle school.
“There is a real opening right now for Black boys in kids’ media,” Edouard said. “Stuntboy was my chance to do something different, to show a Black boy who is full and complex, through the lens of mental health.”
The show, which takes cues from Reynolds’ two “Stuntboy” novels, centers around Portico Reeves, an adolescent whose main power is ensuring that his family and friends stay safe. However, he deals with an unspoken trauma among young Black boys: anxiety, bullying, the concept of Black boys not allowed to be “soft” and learning how to navigate his parents’ divorce.
The show also carries plenty of big names in the Blerd world, with Gabriel Asheru Benn of “The Boondocks” fame creating the theme song and Damyon “Choppy Chop” Richardson and Roderick “Roddyrod” Bridges Jr. serving as composers. CBA Studios, a Black-owned animation studio, is behind the animation of the series with Chaz Bottoms serving as animation director.
How Edouard’s work connects with parents, whether Black mothers raising Black sons or white mothers raising Black sons, is key.
“When we talk to parents,” Edouard began, “The lack of representation for Black boys is absolutely prevalent. But then there’s something else that’s super important amongst those moms, right? They always talk about how their sons are always aged up, that they’re not given an opportunity to be young boys to have joy and to express themselves, and the content is also not doing that as well.”
He continued, “Continuing children’s media content around STEM, around joy and thriving, particularly for Black boys, does a couple of things. Dr. Rudy Sims breaks it down like this: you get these mirrors, windows and sliding doors that give young people a reflection of who they want to be in the world. You give people what they see in themselves, what they can see in the world and ultimately, the world they can step into and add real impact.”
The mission of “Stuntboy,” and much of the We Up Collective’s work, is steering the conversation away from what Black boys lack and focusing on what Black boys need. In his eyes, Black boys are placed in special education classes at an “unhealthy” rate. Instead of formally addressing the problem, they’re placed in programs where they’re ultimately shunned and have their development stunted. At Drexel, he’s seen countless children in West Philadelphia, in particular West Philadelphia High School, where the space isn’t an elective to consider for development, but a necessity.
It has become a call to action for the former video director turned academic, who helped launch “MayNERD’s Wild World of Science,” a Black male’s take on STEM in the same vein as “Bill Nye: The Science Guy.”
Still, even with a highly popular series like “Wombats,” Edouard & Co. understood that looking at characters through an animal lens doesn’t have the same effect on children as seeing variations of themselves. Growing up, the Black friend in a cartoon was either the athletic one (“Recess”, “Doug”) or, in rare cases, the hero (“Static Shock”).
With “Stuntboy,” the energy isn’t just about telling Black stories. It’s about supporting the representation of humanity as a whole.
“We want to make sure that our children, our Black children, get to see themselves on screen,” Edouard says. “And I always say this: I don’t make Black shows. I make shows for Black people. We make shows to show the humanity of Black people, to show their lived experiences, but at the same time have a gradient of wide open stories that we can find ourselves where we can use authentic language, movement, ideas, and framing.”
Ultimately, what Edouard hopes to accomplish with his mission is creating a pipeline so that more young Black animators and ideas can flourish in a space where they aren’t routinely seen. And through animation, he and the We Up Collective hope to shape a broader discussion about topics that affect young Black boys in the community, so that they can thrive and be their authentic selves.