Nast & Reconstruction, understanding a political cartoon

(light piano music)

- [Narrator 1] We're looking at an 1874,

political cartoon by Thomas Nast.

It doesn't have an official title,

but it's often called
"The Union As It Was"

or "Worse Than Slavery".

- [Narrator 2] Political
Cartoons can be hard,

because we've lost the visual language

that they refer to and that everyone

at the time would have easily recognized.

- [Narrator 1] Contemporary viewers

would have seen this in context

in Harper's weekly magazine,

a Northern newspaper that supported

Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican party.

- [Narrator 2] So at its most basic,

we're seeing two figures,

one facing us on the right,

one with his back to us on the left,

reaching out to one
another and shaking hands

above a skull and crossbones,

which sits at the top of a shield

in which we see a black family,

and scenes of violence behind that family.

The figure on the left is clearly labeled

as being from the White League.

And he holds a weapon,

as does the figure on the right

who's clearly labeled KKK.

And we can also recognize
him from his uniform.

[Narrator 1] And smaller details here,

also tell us a bit about what's going on.

We can see that at the
bottom of that shield,

there's an open book that
has the alphabet in it,

and we see a school house

that's got smoke rising from it.

They represent efforts by
formerly enslaved people

to get an education in the
years after the civil war.

And then behind the kneeling woman,

we see a man who's been lynched.

So when we see these two figures,

shaking hands above this scene of terror,

it looks like a conspiracy
between the White League,

which was an 1870s paramilitary group

that openly crushed Black
political participation

in the South and the KKK,

- [Narrator 2] The federal
government has been able

to some degree to quash
the activities of the KKK,

but the White League and
similar organizations

were born during this period.

We see the figure from the
white league from behind,

but he's not disguised in the way

that the figure from the KKK is.

The White League was
acting more in the open.

People knew the names of, in many cases,

Confederate veterans who are taking part

in the White League and
similar organizations.

- [Narrator 1] we see in
the upper left corner,

a bayonet, a weapon that is affixed

to the end of a rifle, that suggests that

this man is a Confederate veteran.

He has a weapon that
would have been issued

by the Confederate Army,

and has both the
equipment and the training

to continue the fight to disenfranchise

black voters in the South.

And this cartoon drawn about a year

after the Colfax massacre,

which took place in Louisiana,

in which more than 100
black militia members

were slaughtered by the White League.

This moment in the 1870s,

is a really critical
moment for reconstruction.

It's been eight plus years

since the end of the civil war.

There's a question of whether

the federal government, whether the North

is going to turn away from its commitment

to African-American equality in the South,

and allow white supremacy to reemerge.

"This is a white man's government",

was a statement from the
1868 democratic platform.

And remember at this time, the democratic

and Republican parties espoused

different positions than they do today.

The democratic party for the most part

was associated with
slavery States' rights,

and white supremacy in the South.

And the Republican party was associated

with national and federal government,

and African-American rights.

So in showing this is a
white man's government,

Thomas Nast is trying to make a connection

between the democratic party,

racial violence in the South,

and encourage his viewers to vote

for the Republican party.

- [Narrator 2] These
figures are represented

sympathetically, and not at all

like the kinds of caricature images

of black figures that
we would see normally,

in so many political cartoons

and other images from the period,

where they're represented

with prominent jaws and wide eyes.

And we often see these figures

dressed in rags with bare feet.

- [Narrator 1] Women are often depicted

wearing kerchiefs on their head,

which was a symbol of
black female subservience.

You think of aunt Jamima, for example.

So even though Nast, is trying

to create a sympathetic image,

he's still drawing on
elements, typical of racist,

19th century depictions of black people.

- [Narrator 2] So when
I look at this cartoon

from a art historical point of view,

I see two figures on
either side of a shield.

And if we go back in art history,

we can see that this was a common motif.

Sometimes they could
be allegorical figures

on either side, sometimes poutine,

and those Renaissance images

get drawn on for one of the early designs

for the great seal of the
United States of America,

where we see two figures representing war

and peace on either side of a shield

with stripes and above it stars,

representing the United States.

And we can follow this imagery

to a print or which depicts on one side,

Abraham Lincoln, on the
other George Washington,

each with their hands on shield,

representing the United States.

This is a print made shortly after

Lincoln staff, commemorating Lincoln,

and aligning him with George Washington.

An image that represents
the idea of national unity,

but in Nasts' cartoon, that idea of unity

is really conspiracy to commit violence,

and to disenfranchise and control

the labor of formerly enslaved people.

- [Narrator 1] Viewers of the cartoon

would immediately have recalled

an earlier Nast cartoon
from during the war

called "Compromise With The South.

Nast, became nationally famous in 1864.

At that time, some Democrats

opposed Abraham Lincoln, and they wanted

to make peace with the South

to allow the Confederacy
to go its own way,

and slavery to continue.

And Nast, drummed up considerable support

for Abraham Lincoln,
with this image showing

how U.S. soldiers would have died

in a useless war, had
the United States decided

to make peace with the Confederacy.

And that slavery would continue,

as we see, with the image

of the black family kneeling once again.

And we can see that this is something

that Nast, thinks is tragic

by the figure of Columbia,

an allegorical figure representing

the United States, kneeling and weeping

before this grave.

- [Narrator 2] So once again, an agreement

between white people that will have

this terrible impact on a black family.

And we see this in other Nast cartoons,

for example, one called

this is a white man's government.

Where again, figures are shaking hands

and a formerly enslaved person is being

trampled on the ground beneath their feet.

- [Narrator 1] In some ways we could see

these cartoons as a
continuation of the same story.

In 1864, the democratic party suggesting

compromise with the South,

in 1868, democratic party,

working with Nathaniel Bedford Forrest,

the founder of the KKK
to enact the platform.

This is a white man's government.

In 1874, the White League and the KKK

working together to create a society

worse than slavery.

To this cartoon in 1876,

which shows a black man being forced

to vote the democratic ticket,

because this white supremacy and violence

has gone unchecked in the South.

For me, the tragedy of
reconstruction is that

it didn't have to end the way it did.

Didn't have to end with another 100 years

before the voting rights, Act.

History is not a straight upward line

of people getting more and more rights,

becoming more and more free and equal.

Those rights and that equality

must be actively maintained.

(light piano music)