Racist trade card promoting the Working Shoe Makers Co-Operative Union and depicting a scene with African American caricatures originally created for Harper’s Weekly in 1878 by Sol Eytinge that satirized the courtship and marriage of and the start of families by "The Twins." Shows the twins, attired in yellow hats decorated with a red feather and long-sleeved yellow dresses with a white collar and a red belt, standing on the deck of the ship with their husbands. The husband in the left is attired in a white collared shirt, a blue jacket, red pants, and black shoes. The other twin’s husband in the right is attired in a blue hat, a white collared shirt, a green jacket, red and white striped pants, and black shoes. The couples, newly married, are “off for Europe” and look over the ship to say goodbye to the people on the dock. In the foreground, a number of African American men, attired in hats and suits, and women, attired in hats and dresses, talk amongst themselves and wave goodbye. In the left, a man stands up over the crowd, attired in a black hat, a red jacket, and yellow pants, and throws a bouquet of flowers at the couples onto the deck. The Working Shoe Makers Co-Operative Union was active in the 1880s in Chicago, Ill., Title from item., Place of publication deduced from place of operation of the advertised business., Date deduced from the history of the advertised business., Advertising text printed on verso: The Working Shoe Makers. Co-Operative Union 220 & 222 S. Halsted Street, The Cheapest Custom Made Shoe Store in the City. Button & Congress Gaiters, to measure. Ladies’ Button & Laced Gaiters, to measure. Half soleing & heeling 1.00 Ladies 75 cts, Craddock & Auston, Managers., Gift of David Doret.
Date
[ca. 1885]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - Working [P.2017.95.194]
