After many decades, the comics' industry is finally giving black superheroes their due - and characters like Sam Wilson's and Alan Scott before him) were all noticeably white; demographics didn't change, so what did? To answer that question, one must look at the writers of the books themselves, and realize that the creation of comic books is no longer limited to one group of people.
During the Golden Age of Comics (from the late 30s to the early 50s), the overwhelming majority of comic book writers and artists were white (and male). They made characters like Superman, Batman and Captain America white because they themselves were white; additionally, segregation was still in effect (even for the United States military), and people were far from being considered equal according to law and public opinion alike. It wasn't until 1966 that the first mainstream black superhero, Black Panther, would appear on comic covers - but if Black Panther found success, why did Sam Wilson and James Rhodes play the part of sidekick for so long?
The 60s was a decade of massive social change in America, and comics reflected this; for the first time, black characters were seen as everyday people, and no longer seen as "other" (at least in Marvel comics; DC notoriously took some time to catch up, and even in 1971, Superman comics referred to black Kryptonians as a "...highly developed black race" insinuating that this was the exception). Even so, the first mainstream black American superhero wasn't introduced until 1969 (Sam Wilson, who would later become Captain America). Wilson and others were relegated to sidekick status because the majority of Marvel characters from the early Silver Age were already established - but that didn't stop characters like Blade, Storm, James Rhodes and Luke Cage and more appearing in the 70s. But Marvel and DC were not the only comics companies in town.
Black Superheroes Are No Longer Automatically Sidekicks
Founded in 1993, Milestone Comics created a huge amount of black superheroes, many of whom are still fairly popular today. Realizing that minority superheroes were woefully underrepresented in comics, even after the 60s, the writers of Milestone created Rocket, Hardwave, Masquarade, Icon, Static (of Static Shock fame) and many more. The legacy of Milestone can be seen in Marvel and DC Comics in the mid 2010s, when companies finally realized the conceit of a black superhero sidekick was outdated, and Sam Wilson and James Rhodes should have headlined their franchises long ago.
It is no secret that the comics industry is dominated by Marvel and DC, with third-party publishers finding very rare success. Milestone appeared at a time when Dark Horse and Image already attempted to be the "option C" alternative that catered to readers who didn't want to be a part of the status quo (a popular 90s sentiment), and found little success by comparison. But the creators at Milestone Comics knew then what Marvel and DC know now: black superheros were always capable of becoming mainstream heroes - and Sam Wilson's wildly popular Captain America proves it, along with many others.
