An Army veteran found his talent in art, and a chance meeting led to an award-winning second career drawing newspaper comics in Charlotte. Through his cartoons, Eugene Payne forced the nation to rethink key political issues.
Through his cartoons for the Charlotte Observer, Eugene Payne explored local, state, and national political and social issues in 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. In 1968, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. A collection of his cartoons is housed in the Special Collections of Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
View Gallery
Cartoons and photographs provided by the Eugene Payne Cartoon Collection, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Library. Click any image to enlarge.
- March 18, 1969
- November 10, 1970
- June 29, 1971
- August 8, 1967
- No Date Provided.
- November 2, 1967
- August 2, 1978
- May 12, 1963
- September 1, 1983
- No Date Provided
Special Collections
J. Murrey Atkins Library
UNC Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223
704-687-2449




















I found a 1977 NCAA finals caricature print done by Eugene Payne. It has Dean Smith & 5 other people I can’t place, can you help me. Is this print valuable? Thanks for your help, Karen.
I have the same print-found some team names-Phil Ford, Dudley Bradley, Coach Smith,Mike O’Koren, Jeff Wolf, Al Wood-Also like to know value-Thanks, Shirley