© Copyright 2025 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- Scent to the legislature
- Description
- Racist cartoon expressing disdain for African Americans who were elected to office as a result of Reconstruction. Depicts a bust-length portrait of an African American man legislator, portrayed in racist caricature with grotesque features, attired in a white collared shirt, a plaid bowtie, a waistcoat, and a jacket, smiling. He is flanked by two white men legislators who hold their noses as though he had a bad "scent." Many African American legislators were targeted as the source of corruption in politics during the era., Title from item., Date of publication of 1868 is used as the content suggests that the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment has occurred. Weitenkampf suggests an earlier date of 1865 arguing that African Americans were elected to office during the early era of Reconstruction, Originally part of American political caricatures, likely a scrapbook, accessioned 1899. Collection primarily comprised of gifts from Samuel Breck, John A. McAllister, and James Rush., 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.
- Date
- [1868?]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1868 Sce [5760.F.117]
- Title
- The Fifteenth Amendment. Celebrated May 19th 1870
- Description
- Commemorative print celebrating the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment depicting a large central scene of the May 19, 1870 Baltimore parade surrounded by several portraits and vignettes. A float of young African American girls leads the parade in view of the city's Washington Monument. The parade consists of African American Zouave drummers, men in top hats on horseback, and ranks of troops. The portraits of African American civil rights supporters framing this scene include President Grant; Martin Robison Delany, the first African American Major; Frederick Douglass; Mississippi Senator Hiram Revels; Vice-President Schuyler Colfax; Abraham Lincoln; and abolitionist John Brown. The numerous vignettes, all captioned, include scenes of an African American classroom, an African American congregation, an African American wedding, an African American officer, an African American man reading to his family, African American masons, and an African American man voting., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year of 1870 by Thomas Kelly in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., LCP exhibition catalogue: Negro history, p. 78., Purchase 1968., 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., Beard was a respected illustrator most well known for his nature illustrations.
- Creator
- Beard, James C., designer
- Date
- 1870
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1870-4 [7765.F]
- Title
- The result of the Fifteenth Amendment, and the rise and progress of the African race in America and its final accomplishment, and celebration on May 19th A.D. 1870
- Description
- Print commemorating the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment containing a large central scene of the celebratory parade held in Baltimore in May surrounded by several bust portraits and vignettes. Parade is led by several African American Zoaves down Monument Street, which is lined with African American and white men, women, and children spectators. Bust-length portraits of African American civil rights supporters above and to the sides of this scene include Abraham Lincoln; Baltimore jurist Hugh Lennox Bond; abolitionist John Brown; Vice-President Schuyler Colfax; President Grant; Pennsylvania representative Thaddeus Stevens; Maryland representative Henry Davis; Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner; Martin Robinson Delaney; Frederick Douglass; and Mississippi Senator Hiram Revels. Vignettes include a plantation scene depicting enslaved African American men and women working in a cotton field while a white man stands looking on titled, "we are in bondage, deliver us!; a Civil War battle with African American troops; a classroom with an African American man teacher and African American students titled, "Education will be our pride"; an African American congregation; and a parade of African American Masons holding banners., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1870 by Metcalf & Clark, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Purchase 1968., 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.
- Date
- 1870
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *political cartoons - 1870-2 [7764.F]

