Creator |
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher. |
Contributor |
Pendleton, Kearny & Childs lithographer. |
|
Hart, Sarah, publisher. |
Title |
A dead cut. [graphic] / Drawn on stone by E.W. Clay; Pendleton, Kearny & Childs. Lithogy. |
Publisher |
Philadelphia: Published by S. Hart, No. 65 S. Third St |
Publisher |
PA. Philadelphia. 1829 |
Date |
1829 |
Physical Description |
1 print: lithograph; 22 x 29 cm (8.5 x 11.25 in.) |
Description |
Racist caricature portraying a middle-class African American man-woman couple as snobs who slight a working-class African
American man shoeshiner and former acquaintance. Depicts the African American shoeshiner greeting the African American couple
who feign ignorance of the man's acquaintance after their return from "de Springs." The laborer, attired in a rumpled top
hat, torn overcoat with tails, and patched pants holds his rod of boots in his left hand, and uses his right one to grab the
hand of "Cesa." "Cesa," dressed in a flat-top cap, and heavy, long overcoat with handkerchief in the pocket, and plaid pants,
looks suspiciously at their joined hands. He holds a walking stick and his companion's parasol in his other hand. He states
that the shoeshiner has mistaken his identity (You must be mistaking in de person black man!). His companion, her hand around
his elbow, and dressed in a Dunstable bonnet, dark-colored overcoat, and button-down shirtwaist with a collar, agrees. With
her hand placed on her hip and holding a purse, she declares, "What does the imperdent nigger mean?" Figures are depicted
with oversize and exaggerated features.
|
Notes |
Sarah Hart was a Jewish Philadelphia stationer who assumed printing of the "Life in Philadelphia" series in 1829. She reprinted
the entire original series of 14 prints in 1830.
|
|
Pendelton, Kearny, & Childs, in operation from 1829 until 1830, was the first successful lithographic firm in Philadelphia.
The firm's partners were John Pendleton, Frances Kearny, and Cephas G. Childs.
|
|
Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American Political Caricaturist of Jacksonian America (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan,
1980), p. 80-81. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O).
|
|
Described in Daily Chronicle, December 26, 1829, 2 and “The Dead Cut,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 31, 1829, 2. |
|
RVCDC |
|
Description revised 2021. |
|
Access points revised 2021. |
|
Acquired in 1970. |
Subject |
African Americans -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American women -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American women -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African Americans -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Classism. |
|
Couples -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Conversation. |
|
Intersectionality (Sociology) |
|
Middle-class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Racism in popular culture. |
|
Shaking hands -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
Snobbishness. |
|
Working class -- Clothing & dress -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. |
|
African American shoe shiners. |
Genre |
Caricatures -- 1820-1830. |
|
Lithographs -- 1820-1830. |
Printer |
Hart, Sarah, publisher. |
Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [7893.F.1] |
Accession number |
7893.F.1 |