Lesson 9 Document 41
TITLE: Political caricature no. 2. Miscegenation or
the millennium of abolitionism
CALL NUMBER: PC/US - 1864.B8687, no. 2 (B size) <P&P>[P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-8840 (b&w film copy neg.)
SUMMARY: The second in a series of
anti-Lincoln satires by Bromley & Co. This number was deposited for
copyright on July 1, 1864. The artist conjures up a ludicrous
vision of the supposed consequences of racial equality in
America in this attack on the Republican espousal of equal
rights. The scene takes place in a park-like setting with a
fountain in the shape of a boy on a dolphin and
a large bridge in the background. A black woman (left), "Miss
Dinah, Arabella, Aramintha Squash," is presented by abolitionist senator Charles
Sumner to President Lincoln. Lincoln bows and says, "I shall be
proud to number among my intimate friends any member of the
Squash family, especially the little Squashes." The
woman responds, "Ise 'quainted wid Missus Linkum I is, washed for her 'fore de
hebenly Miscegenation times was cum. Dont do nuffin now but gallevant 'round wid
de white gemmen! . . . " A second mixed couple sit at a small table (center)
eating ice cream. The black woman says, "Ah! Horace its-its-its
bully 'specially de cream." Her companion, Republican editor Horace Greeley,
answers, "Ah! my dear Miss Snowball we have at last reached our
political and social Paradise. Isn't it extatic?" To
the right a white woman embraces a black dandy, saying, "Oh! You dear
creature. I am so agitated! Go and ask Pa." He replies, "Lubly
Julia Anna, name de day, when Brodder Beecher [abolitionist clergyman Henry Ward
Beecher] shall make us one!" At the far right a second white
woman sits on the lap of a plump black man reminding him, "Adolphus,
now you'll be sure to come to my lecture tomorrow night, wont you?" He assures
her, "Ill be there Honey, on de front seat, sure!" A German onlooker (far right)
remarks, "Mine Got. vat a guntry, vat a beebles!" A well-dressed man with a
monocle exclaims, "Most hextwadinary! Aw neva witnessed the
like in all me life, if I did dem me!" An Irishwoman pulls a carriage holding a
black baby and complains, "And is it to drag
naggur babies that I left old Ireland? Bad luck to me." In the
center a Negro family rides in a carriage driven by a white man with two white
footmen. The father lifts his hat and says, "Phillis
de-ah dars Sumner. We must not cut him if he is walking." Their driver comments,
"Gla-a-ang there 240s! White driver, white footmen, niggers inside, my heys! I
wanted a sitiwation when I took this one." The term
"miscegenation" was coined during the 1864 presidential
campaign to discredit the Republicans, who were charged with
fostering the intermingling of the races. In
the lower margin are prices and instructions
for ordering various numbers of copies of the print. A single
copy cost twenty-five cents "post paid."
MEDIUM: 1 print : Lithograph on wove paper ; 35.8 x 51.6 cm
(image)
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864.
RELATED NAMES:
Bromley & Co.
NOTES: Title appears as it is written on the item.
Entered . . . 1864 by Bromly & Co. . . . New York. Weitenkampf, pp. 141-42
Use surrogate: either electronic image or Reilly's American Political Prints
book illustration.
Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly.
Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1864-38.
TOPICS:
Abolitionism and abolitionists, parodied or attacked
African Americans (portrayed)
Beecher, Henry Ward
German Americans
Greeley, Horace
Irish-Americans
Lincoln, Abraham, anti-Lincoln satires
Miscegenation
Sumner, Charles, as an abolitionist
FORMAT:
Political cartoons.
Lithographs.
|