Price: $75.00
SKU: 91413
ARTIST: Thomas Nast
PUBLISHER: Published by Harper's Weekly. October 18, 1879.
MEDIUM: Engraving,
DATE: 1879
EDITION SIZE: Image size 11 x 9 1/4" (27.9 x 23.6 cm)
DESCRIPTION: Thomas Nast once again goes after the heavy racism seeded in the south. Desperate to keep blacks away from the polls, white supremacists resorted to violence to achieve their goals. What's more, President Hayes had allowed the Compromise of 1877 to come into existence just two year years earlier. It's goal had been to help solidify the south after the turmoil of the Civil War & reconstruction era, but unfortunately the South refused to uphold its end of the Compromise and brought about the rules and regulations we now know as the Jim Crow Laws.<br><br> In this political cartoon a skeleton soldier, wearing a belt labeled 'Solid Southern Shot Gun', guards the ballot box labeled 'Suffrage. Liberty.' Nast has used this symbol of a skeleton in numerous cartoons to represent messengers of death. The words 'Solid Southern' on the belt refers to the phrase Solid South, which was used to represent the southern Democratic voting block. The phrase was also synonymous with white supremacists. <br><br> The signs all around the death-bringer further tell the story of racism. Starting on the left is '1775 - 1776 : Liberty or Death' with a quick sketch of the founding fathers calling for independence. Below it is '1879 - 1880. Death of Liberty" with white men shooting a helpless black man. The words 'The blessing of liberty to ourselves and posterity...' tells of the scenes irony. Other signs include, 'Free Shooting on Election Day,' 'Brute Might Makes Right. Shoot Suffrage to Death' and 'Fraud and Violence. The Reform Battle Cry. The New Era of Conciliation (the shot gun) is a Government, of the People, for the People, and by the People, to be Shot to Death?'
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CONDITION: Good condition.
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