Details
Creator Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher.
Title Life in Philadelphia. "What de debil you hurrah for General Jackson for?" [graphic] / [Clay], fec.
Publisher [Philadelphia]: [publisher not identified]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1830
Date [ca. 1830]
Physical Description 1 print: hand-colored etching; 20 x 19 cm (7.75 x 7.25 in.)
Description Racist caricature of an African American "’ministration man" (supporter of incumbent John Quincy Adams) aggressively chastising an African American boy for his cheers of support for the new President, Andrew Jackson. Depicts, in the left, a man attired in a blue waistcoat, white vest, white cravat, tan pants, and tan slip on shoes holding a switch in his right hand and angrily grabbing the boy who has a frightened look on his face and is barefoot. The boy is dressed in patched tan pants, a tan jacket with an elbow patch, a white vest and a hat made from the pro-Jackson paper "The Mercury." A sword lays beside the boy and a copy of the anti-Jackson paper "Democratic Press" lays in front of the man. In the background, cityscape is visible and a large crowd is seen celebrating Jackson’s election around a flag pole. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring.
Notes Title from item.
Date inferred from content.
Inscribed: Plate 7.
The symbol of a key is used in place of the name Clay.
Place of publication inferred from location of artist.
Contains seven lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Hurrah! Hurrah for General Jackson!! What de debil you hurrah for General Jackson for ? _ You black nigger!_ I’ll larn you better_I’m a ministration man!!”
Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of the Jacksonian Era (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 97. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O).
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Subject African Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American boys -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African Americans -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Conversation.
Middle-class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1828.
Racism in popular culture.
Geographic subject United States -- Politics and government -- 1825-1829.
Genre Caricatures -- 1820-1830.
Etchings -- Hand-colored -- 1820-1830.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [P.9701.7]
Accession number P.9701.7