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Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings...?"
Description: Racist caricature of an African American woman shopping for a pair of "flesh coloured silk stockings" in a hosiery store with a white male sales clerk speaking with a French dialect. Depicts, in the center left, the woman standing at the blue counter in front of the clerk who holds up a pair of black-colored stockings from out of a rectangular box. She is attired in a yellow floral patterned dress, as well as tall, wide-brimmed floral-patterned hat adorned with yellow flowers, greenery, and a veil and long floral-patterned ribbon, white gloves, earrings, and white button-up boots. She rests her pink, polka-dot-patterned purse on the counter and holds up a monocle from the end of her neck fob to inspect the stockings that the clerk declares are of "de first qualite!" Her brown parasol rests against the counter. Rows of red, blue, brown, black, and yellow stockings and fashion accessories hang on the wall behind the clerk. The clerk is attired in a green waistcoat with tails, a blue vest, white cravat, and white pants. In the left, an African American woman attired in a pink polka dot dress and tall, wide brimmed hat adorned with a veil and green ribbons is seen in the doorway of the shop in which curtains hang and are pushed to the side. A shelf lined with bolts of textiles hangs above the doorway. The wheel of a carriage is seen behind the woman. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. The central woman figure’s skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring and the woman figure in the doorway’s skin tone is depicted with brown hand coloring. The man is depicted with rosy cheeks and brown, curled hair., Title from item., Date inferred from content and name of publisher., After the work of Edward W. Clay., Attributed to William Summers., Plate 11 of the original series of Life in Philadelphia., Contains five lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect above the image: Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings, young man? Oui Madame! here is von pair of de first qualité!, Charles Hunt was a respected London engraver who was most known for his aquatints of sporting subjects., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Summers, William, artist
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London) [P.9707.3]

Title: Life in Philadelphia. "Shall I hab de honour to dance de next quadrille...?"
Description: Racist caricature ridiculing the etiquette of attendees of an African American dance ball. Depicts, in the right and in profile, "Mr. Cato," an African American man dressed in a blue coat with tails, white pantaloons and stockings, ruffled white shirt, red cravat, white gloves, a gold neck fob, and black slipper shoes bowing with his hat in his hand to invite "Miss Minta" to dance. In the left, "Miss Minta," a curvaceous African American woman, forward facing, her head turned to the right, and dressed in a yellow, cap-sleeved gown with an apron detail, a large pink headpiece, white opera gloves, and several pieces of jewelry, including a neck fob, bracelets, armlets, and red earrings, declines his invitation because she is already "engaged for de nine next set." She also slightly holds up the lower right corner of her apron with her right hand. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features. Their skin tone is depicted with black hand coloring. Scene also includes a wooden chair with a red padded seat partially visible in the left foreground and background imagery depicting the interior of a ballroom with a large mirror and other African American men and women ball attendees portrayed with exaggerated features., Title from item., Date inferred from content., After the work of Edward W. Clay., Attributed to William Summers., Inscribed: Plate 6., Shane White and Graham White's Stylin':African American Expressive Culture (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 98. (LCP Ii 4, A2880.O)., Charles Hunt was a respected 19th-century London engraver who was most known for his aquatints of sporting subjects., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Acquired in 1968.
Creator: Summers, William, artist
Date: [ca. 1831]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London Set) [7658.F]

Title: A dead cut
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., 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.
Creator: Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, etcher
Date: 1829
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Set) [7893.F.1]

Title: [Life in Philadelphia miniatures]
Description: Five cartes-de-visite size racist and sexist social caricatures derived from the series "Life in Philadelphia," including figures in brightly colored and ornately patterned fashion. Lines of dialogue are included below the images. Depicts a scene of a white man sexually harassing a white woman, their fashion caricatured (P.9717.1); a thwarted celebration of the election of Andrew Jackson centered on an African American man and boy portrayed in caricature (P.9717.2); a discussion of hot weather between an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.3); a dance ball centered on an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature ((P.9717.4); and the purchase of silk stockings by an African American woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.5). The prints are captioned respectively: "Good Evening Miss..."; "Why for you hurrah for General Jackson?"; "How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe?"; "Shall I hab de honor to dance de next quadrille...?"; and "Have you any flesh colored silk stockings...?" The scenes also contain detailed backgrounds that include cityscape, pedestrian traffic, figures at celebration, bucolic scenery, the interior of a ballroom with white attendees, and the interior of a clothing store attended by a white man clerk speaking with a French dialect. The African American figures are portrayed with exaggerated features and stances. The white woman figure is portrayed with an exaggerated silhouette because of her fashion comprised of a bell-shaped overcoat and dress., Title supplied by cataloguer., Date inferred from content., P.9717.1 contains lines of dialogue below the image: Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you._ Me Sir!! for whom do you take me, Sir?_ Come that’s a good one!-for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure., P.9717.2 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Hurrah! Hurrah for General Jackson. Why for you hurrah for General Jackson – you black Nigger – I’ll larn you better – I’m a ministration man., P.9717.3 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe? Pretty well I tank you Mr. Cesar, only I aspire too much., P.9717.4 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Shall I habe de honour to dance next Quadrille wid you Miss Minta. Tank you Mr. Cato wid much pleasure only I’, engaged for de next nine Set!”, P.9717.5 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Have you any Flesh color’d Silk Stockings young Man? Oui Madame! Her is von pair of de first quality., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London) [P.9717.1-.5]

Title: [Life in Philadelphia miniatures]
Description: Five cartes-de-visite size racist and sexist social caricatures derived from the series "Life in Philadelphia," including figures in brightly colored and ornately patterned fashion. Lines of dialogue are included below the images. Depicts a scene of a white man sexually harassing a white woman, their fashion caricatured (P.9717.1); a thwarted celebration of the election of Andrew Jackson centered on an African American man and boy portrayed in caricature (P.9717.2); a discussion of hot weather between an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.3); a dance ball centered on an African American man and woman portrayed in caricature ((P.9717.4); and the purchase of silk stockings by an African American woman portrayed in caricature (P.9717.5). The prints are captioned respectively: "Good Evening Miss..."; "Why for you hurrah for General Jackson?"; "How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe?"; "Shall I hab de honor to dance de next quadrille...?"; and "Have you any flesh colored silk stockings...?" The scenes also contain detailed backgrounds that include cityscape, pedestrian traffic, figures at celebration, bucolic scenery, the interior of a ballroom with white attendees, and the interior of a clothing store attended by a white man clerk speaking with a French dialect. The African American figures are portrayed with exaggerated features and stances. The white woman figure is portrayed with an exaggerated silhouette because of her fashion comprised of a bell-shaped overcoat and dress., Title supplied by cataloguer., Date inferred from content., P.9717.1 contains lines of dialogue below the image: Good evening Miss, shall I have the pleasure of walking with you._ Me Sir!! for whom do you take me, Sir?_ Come that’s a good one!-for whom do I take you? Why for myself to be sure., P.9717.2 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Hurrah! Hurrah for General Jackson. Why for you hurrah for General Jackson – you black Nigger – I’ll larn you better – I’m a ministration man., P.9717.3 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: How you find yourself dis hot weder Miss Chloe? Pretty well I tank you Mr. Cesar, only I aspire too much., P.9717.4 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Shall I habe de honour to dance next Quadrille wid you Miss Minta. Tank you Mr. Cato wid much pleasure only I’, engaged for de next nine Set!”, P.9717.5 contains lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Have you any Flesh color’d Silk Stockings young Man? Oui Madame! Her is von pair of de first quality., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Date: [ca. 1833]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (London) [P.9717.1-.5]

Title: Cornwallis is taken! The watchman's cry - Philadelphia 1781
Description: Print commemorating the surrender in 1781 of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown depicting the watchman's purported moonlit announcement of the event on October 22nd at the Philadelphia residence of Thomas McKean, the president of Congress. Near the "Geo. Washington" tavern, the white watchman, one hand raised, a lantern in the other, his mouth open and with a few teeth missing, cries the news to the crowd of men, women, and children surrounding him and McKean. McKean, wearing a silken robe, chin in hand listens. His face portrayed with a look of contemplation. The crowd, many in nightclothes hold candlesticks, pray, cheer, and listen solemnly. Included in the crowd are a white man veteran with a prosthetic wooden peg leg, an African American boy, an African American woman caregiver holding presumably McKean's baby in the doorway, a white man and woman couple facing each other and holding hands, white women in shawls and elegant robes, a seated Native American woman attired in moccasins, and a white man portrayed with a frowned expression near behind the watchman., Title from item., Date inferred from duplicate with variant imprint in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society.., Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator: Doney, Thomas, engraver
Date: [ca. 1856]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **GC-American Revolution [8384.F.23]

Title: [Life in Philadelphia scraps]
Description: Series of trimmed, captioned scraps containing racist African American imagery based on the “Life in Philadelphia” series after the designs of Edward W. Clay first published 1828-1830. The series of primarily racist social caricatures lampooned the etiquette and conventions of early 19th-century, middle-class Philadelphians, particularly the growing community of free African American persons. Caricatures depict scenes of courtship, society balls, fashion, freemasonry, and the election of Andrew Jackson, as well as sexism, sexual harassment, and sexual innuendo. The figures are portrayed with oversized and exaggerated features and often in the fashion of dandies and belles. Scenes include an African American man leaving his card for “Clotilda” at her basement apartment door within the dishcloth of her African American woman house servant before him (P.2021.28.1a); an African American man-woman couple stopped during their walk in a park to watch a man watching them (P.2021.28.1b); an African American ball at which an African American man attendee asks an African American woman attendee for a dance in front of other African American attendees in the background (P.2021.28.2a); an African American man sexually harassing an African American woman on a city street (P.2021.28.2b); an African American woman and man in conversation on a Sunday (“day of our lord”)(P.2021.28.3a);, African American couple “Mr. Lorenzo” and “Miss Chloe,” seated on a couch, by a window, in a parlor in conversation (P.2021.28.3b); an African American ball at which an African American woman attendee asks an African American man attendee if he likes the waltz in front of other African American attendees in the background (P.2021.28.4a); an African American woman in a dry goods store asking a white man sales clerk, who speaks with a French dialect, about stockings (P.2021.28.4b); an African American military volunteer chastising an African American boy drummer at a military encampment (P.2021.28.5a); an African American man-woman musical couple where she plays the guitar and he sings “Coal Black Rose”(P.2021.28.5b); two African American masons in conversation about “Gen’l Jackson” in front of an altar at a masonic hall (P.2021.28.6a); an African American woman, “Dinah,” being asked by an African American man, “Mr. Durang,” about his new checkered “fashion trousers” (P.2021.28.6b). Women figures are attired in wide-brimmed, and/or ornately adorned, wide-brimmed hats or headpieces, puff-sleeved dresses or a hooded cape in ornate patterns, as well as gloves, slipper shoes, jewelry, and monocles. Men figures are attired in top or wide-brimmed hats, waistcoats, vests, large bowties, trousers or pantaloons, military uniform, masonic regalia, gloves, and slipper shoes or boots. Accessories held by the figures include purses, umbrellas, fans, walking sticks., Scenes also include detailed backgrounds and interior and exterior settings including residential facades; dogs; a white man seated on a bench in a park; ballrooms with attendees and a band playing in a balcony; a section of a city street with a guardhouse; parlors; a counter at a dry goods store; a volunteer military encampment; a masonic hall; as well as pieces of furniture, such as chairs, mantles, and side tables., Title supplied by cataloguer., Date inferred from content., P.2021.28.1a contains three lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Is Miss Clotilda at home? No sir she’s particularly ingaged in washing de dishes – Ah! give her my card!, P.2021.28.1b contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Vol is you looking at my dear? Vy I’m looking at dat imperent fellow vat’s laughing at us?, P.2021.28.2a contains three lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Will you hona me wid your hand for de next codrille Miss Manda? Tank you sa’ but I’m ingaged for de nest ten set!, P.2021.28.2b contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: What do you take me for? you black nigger? Why I take you for myself to be sure., P.2021.28.3a contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Bery hot dis day of our lord Mr. Cesa! Berry hot indeed Miss Juliet – de terometa is 96 degree above joho., P.2021.28.3b contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Mr. Lorenzo dat’s a nice dog you’ve got” Lord! Miss Chloe., P.2021.28.4a contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: do you walse Mr. Wellington? No, my dear creta_ It’s to common. I go nothin but de Manourkey!, P.2021.28.4b contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and French dialect below the image: Have you any flesh coloured silk stockings, Sir? Oui Mamselle here is von pair of de last Parisian touch-, P.2021.28.5a contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: You say I belong to de milishy you black varmont. I’ll let you know I’m a wolunteer., P.2021.28.5b contains two lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: How will your voice harmonize wid de sentiment. Mr. Cato you quite equal to Horn!, P.2021.28.6a contains three lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: Well brudder Jones what you tink of Genl Jackson now? Day say he’s gwang to be Anti Masonic! I don’t know, I tink dat depend on de new cabinet., P.2021.28.6b contains three lines of dialogue in the vernacular and dialect below the image: How you like de new fashion trousers Dinah. Oh quite lubly! You look like Mr. Durang when he play harlequin in de masqarade., Printed in upper left corner of P.2021.28.1a: [E?]dition., Printed in upper right corner of P.2021.28.2a and trimmed: 2nd E?[dition?], RVCDC
Date: [ca. 1838-ca. 1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Life in Philadelphia (Miscellaneous) [P.2021.28.1a-6b]

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