Image: A smiling Quaker woman holds a bayonet and takes a hat from a tall man who leans on his cane., Verse 678: Friend Jane - I have bought thee a Staff and Hat, which I hope will prove serviceable in these times., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Image: A Quaker woman carrying a parasol encounters another Friend, who carries a bayonet to a Friends' Meeting. A group of soldiers are lined up in the background. Mocks the Quaker pacifists who didn't want to contribute to the bloodshed., Verse 679: Friend Susan -- Why, Friend Broadbrim, what is thee doing with a musket and soldier clothes on! Friend Broadbrim -- I am going to the Friends' Meeting. Friend Susan -- Well, if thee does so, I hope the spirit will move thee to do something., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Image: A soldier drops his sword in surprise when he sees Friend Thomas coming at him with a sword in support of the Union., Verse 680: Friend Thomas -- Oh! ho! so thee was a going to fight, friend Secede, was thee? I hope thee has found out now that the Quakers are sound on the Union., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
Racist caricature simultaneously mocking and condoning the pretentiousness and bigotry of early 19th century Philadelphia Quakers toward their "social inferiors." Shows a Philadelphia road in front of a small home with an open picket fence and a visitor arriving on horseback. In front of the fence, a dark skinned traveler, possibly an Irishman or African American, with buck teeth and carrying a knapsack and a walking stick, asks a rotund white Quaker man and his attractive prim and proper daughter, "I say, this isn't the road to Philadelphy, honey, is it?" The father responds indignantly to the "Friend," that he is not only asking a question, but also telling a lie, and of course it is the road., Attributed to E.W. Clay., Title and publication information supplied by Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 652, Clay, born in Philadelphia, was the most prolific caricaturist of the Jacksonian era. He became well known for his racist popular series, "Life in Philadelphia," published from 1828 until 1832, which mocked upwardly mobile African American Philadelphians as ineptly attempting to imitate the white middle class., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 76, 358. (LCP Print Room Uz, A423.O)., LCP holds duplicate trimmed print: W315., Gift of William Helfand, 1998., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date
[1830 or 1831]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W315 [P.9576]
Racist caricature simultaneously mocking and condoning the pretentiousness and bigotry of early 19th century Philadelphia Quakers toward their "social inferiors." Shows a Philadelphia road in front of a small home with an open picket fence and a visitor arriving on horseback. In front of the fence, a dark skinned traveler, possibly an Irishman or African American, with buck teeth and carrying a knapsack and a walking stick, asks a rotund white Quaker man and his attractive prim and proper daughter, "I say, this isn't the road to Philadelphy, honey, is it?" The father responds indignantly to the "Friend," that he is not only asking a question, but also telling a lie, and of course it is the road., Attributed to E.W. Clay., Title and publication information supplied by Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, Clay, born in Philadelphia, was the most prolific caricaturist of the Jacksonian era. He became well known for his popular racist series, "Life in Philadelphia," published from 1828 until around 1830, which mocked upwardly mobile African American Philadelphians as ineptly attempting to imitate the white middle class., Nancy Reynolds Davison's E.W. Clay: American political caricaturist of the Jacksonian era. (PhD. diss., The University of Michigan, 1980), p. 76, 358. (LCP Print Room, Uz A423.O), LCP holds duplicate untrimmed print: *Wainwright 315., Accessioned 1982., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator
Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
Date
[1830 or 1831]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department W315 [P.2179]