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Title: "The Freedman's Bureau."
Description: Visual pun on the Freedman's Bureau, a benevolent government organization, which aided formerly enslaved African Americans in the South by providing food, housing, and jobs, as well as establishing schools, hospitals, and a court system. Depicts a simply furnished attic room where an African American man, portrayed in racist caricature, ties his tie as he stands beside his bed and before his dresser/bureau. Atop the bureau, which has its top drawer open, is a stand with a broken mirror upon which you see the man's reflection. A portrait of Lincoln and a bow and fiddle hang on the wall. His overcoat and hat rest on a chair with a broken back behind him., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year A.D. 1868 by Currier & Ives in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York., Purchase 1968., 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., Worth was a comic and genre artist whose popular work was published by the lithographic firm Currier & Ives.
Creator: Worth, Thomas, 1834-1917, artist
Date: 1868
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868-2W [7687.F]

Title: The Declaration of Independence illustrated
Description: Cartoon evoking the Declaration of Independence to promote the emancipation from enslavement. Depicts rays of light representing God above a soaring American eagle that clutches olive and oak branches and two American flags labelled "All Men are Created Equal" and "Stand by the Declaration." Suspended from the flags is a large basket in which an African American man and a white man are seated. The African American man drops his broken shackles out of the basket as the abolitionist proclaims "Break Every Yoke; Let the Oppressed Go Free" to a large crowd of men, women, and children cheering below. Among the crowd is a white man Union soldier; a white newsboy selling the "Herald," an abolition newspaper; and a free African American man. Verses of text appear atop the rays of light and beside the basket espousing the religious, moral, and historical justifications for emancipation., Title from item., Date from copyright statement., Purchase 1968., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., Dominique C. Fabronius was a respected Belgian born lithographer, watercolorist, and portraitist who worked in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York.
Creator: Fabronius, Dominique, artist
Date: 1861
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1861-41 [7700.F]

Title: The Freedman's Bureau! An agency to keep the negro in idleness at the expense of the white man. Twice vetoed by the president, and made a law by congress. Support Congress & you support the negro. Sustain the president & you protect the white man
Description: Racist campaign poster in support of Democratic candidate Heister Clymer published during the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1866 attacking his Republican opponent James White Geary and the Republican Congress's support of the Freedmen's Bureau. Depicts an oversize figure of an African American free man, portrayed in racist caricature with grotesque features, lazing on his back under the quote in the vernacular, "Whar is de use for me to work as long as day make dese appropriations." The figure is surrounded by imagery, including scenes, quotes, and a table, condemning the legislature's financial support of African Americans. Scenes include a white man chopping wood as "the white man must work to keep his children and pay his taxes"; a white man farmer plowing his field for "in the sweat of thy face thou eat thy bread"; and a view of a building similar to the Capitol under the heading "Freedman's Bureau! Negro Estimate of Freedom!" The building is inscribed with divisive words and terms including: "Freedom and No Work"; "Goods to eat & drink. Uncle Sam will have to keep me"; "Idleness"; "White Women"; "Apathy" and a list of foods stereotyped as part of the African American diet. Also includes a table listing appropriations issued by Congress in support of the Freedman's Bureau; a quote indicating the inequity of Civil War veteran's bounties in favor of African Americans; and a statement disapproving of the cost of the Freedman's Bureau to the "Tax-payers of the Nation.", Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Readex July 2013 update: This political cartoon is now housed in the Print Room; formerly Lib. Company. Afro-Americana, 3815., 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.
Date: [1866]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1866-6 [(6)5777.F.79]

Title: The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom
Description: Print containing a montage of vignettes and quotes supportive of African American civil rights centered around a scene of "Hon. Robert B. Elliott, of South Carolina, delivering his great speach [sic] on 'civil rights' in the House of Representatives, January 6, 1874" to the packed floor of white and African American Congressmen and balcony of spectators. Contains an American flag inscribed with the quote, "What you give to one class, you must give to all. What you deny to one class, you shall deny to all;" scenes of African American soldiers, officers, and sailors; statues of Lincoln holding his "Emancipation Proclamation" and Senator Charles Sumner holding his "Bill of Civil Rights;" and quotes referring to African American participation in the Civil War. Also contains a scene espousing "free labor is the present, slave labor is the past" with an African American family at their homestead where they "toil for [their] own children and not for those of others.", Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1874 by E. Sachse & Co. Baltimore in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro History #213., Accessioned 1999., 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., E. Sachse & Company, a Baltimore lithographic firm active until the 1870s, was operated by Edward Sachse (also a painter), his brother William, and relative Theodore. The company produced numerous folio sized views.
Creator: E. Sachse & Co., lithographer
Date: 1874
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1874-1 [P.9653]

Title: Emancipation: the past and the future
Description: Emancipation print contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person’s home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. The horrors of slavery are depicted through scenes of the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. The forthcoming results of freedom are depicted through scenes of the exterior of a free person’s cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work. Also depicted are: a baby angel freeing the shackles of a kneeling enslaved man as the angel, who has the year 1863 above his head, is held by Father Time; Thomas Crawford’s statue of freedom; and the hellhound Cerberus fleeing liberty., Title from item., Originally published in Harper's weekly, January 24, 1863., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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., Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator most known for his work for the 19th-century periodical "Harper's Weekly."
Creator: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1865-3 variant [(10)1540.F]

Title: The past and the future
Description: Emancipation print contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person's home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. The horrors of slavery are depicted through scenes of the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. The forthcoming results of freedom are depicted through scenes of the exterior of a free person's cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work. Also depicted are: a baby angel freeing the shackles of a kneeling enslaved man as the angel is held under the year 1863 by Father Time; Thomas Crawford's statue of freedom; and the hellhound Cerberus fleeing liberty. The Great Central or Sanitary Fair of 1864 was organized by the Philadelphia division of the United States Sanitary Commission to raise money for their soldier relief organization. Although emancipation was a popular theme of the fair, African Americans were excluded from the exhibition., Title from item., Date inferred from content., Inscribed: Price [Fif?]ty Cents., Originally published in "Harper's weekly," January 24, 1863., LCP exhibition catalogue: African American Miscellany, p. 22., Accessioned 1987., 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: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
Date: [1864]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Political Cartoons - 1865-3a variant [P.9177.30]

Title: Emancipation
Description: Emancipation print depicting a series of scenes contrasting African American life during and after slavery. Central scene portrays the interior of a free person's home where several generations of the family socialize around a "Union" stove as the mother cooks. Below this scene is a portrait of Lincoln and above it a depiction of Thomas Crawford's statue of freedom, as well as the hell hound Cerberus fleeing Liberty. Scenes to the right display the horrors of slavery including the flogging, branding, selling, and capturing of enslaved people. Scenes to the left display the forthcoming results of freedom including the exterior of a free person's cottage, African American children attending public school, and African Americans receiving payment for their work., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by J.W. Umpehent, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania., Originally published in Harper's weekly, January 24, 1863., McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Digitized by Alexander Street Press for Images of the American Civil War., 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., Nast was a cartoonist and illustrator most known for his work for the 19th-century periodical "Harper's Weekly."
Creator: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, artist
Date: 1865
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1865-3R [5792.F]

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