Analyzing The Satirical Cartoon 'This Is A White Man's Government'

The Confederate flag is the last image in the section; it gets to have the last word. In contrast to the lively football game where the flag is proudly displayed, Faulkner’s dusty, silent grave (and by extension, much of the civil rights movement) seems forgotten and ignored. Though the civil rights movement was powerful and inspired change during its time, it did not generate fear on the same level as the Confederate, white supremacy movement did. For these reasons, Walton makes the decision to end a chapter on rebellion with the image of the Confederate flag, as the cause it symbolizes survived a

Chapter 23: The "Bloody Shirt" Elects Grant Post-Civil War Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson was impeached and the Democrats/Republicans both nominated new candidates (Democrats - Horatio Seymour and Republicans - Ulysses S. Grant) Election of 1868: Grant was nominated by Republicans despite his lack of political experience (a war general) Due to his popularity in the North he had around 300,000 more popular votes than his opponent (turning point was the 500,000 votes of Blacks given to Grant: Republicans protected the voting rights of the freedmen) 15th amendment: Republicans passed this amendment to secure black voting rights...stated that states cannot prohibit a citizen’s right to vote despite race and color Republicans believed for continued

The author mentioned that some citizens are still perturbed by the Confederate flag. While the number is slowly waning, many citizens were a part of the civil rights movement. They watched racist people protest against them using the flag as a symbol of racism, oppression, and hatred. To some, the flag may serve as a permanent reminder that racism is not truly dead in America.

Because President Lincoln and the Republicans changed the course of the Civil War by making it a war over the abolition of slavery, the consequences that would emerge after the conclusion of the war would therefore be different than what they had originally believed. Although the war had ended, many of the issues that had existed before the conflict still lingered. To deal with these long-lasting issues, the Republicans passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in all of the United States. Thomas Nast’s political cartoon published in Harpers Weekly in 1865 depicted leaning liberty, the symbol of American democracy asking for equality for African American veterans of the Civil War. In the cartoon, the black soldier has lost his leg fighting for the Union, showing the great sacrifices that African-American soldiers had made [G]. Nast’s cartoon revealed that although African-American slaves were emancipated, they remained to be considered as second-class citizens were not well treated after the war and that the South had not

First off, let’s start with the most blatantly obvious reason this flags basically stands for slavery and racism. A quote I found to represent this fact is “For him, the flag represented slavery - the main cause of the civil war. Therefore, if we do not condone slavery any

He greets them with a reserved yet cheerful, “Mr. President, Friends, and Fellow Citizens…” (117). He remains respectful of those in authority, while simultaneously conveying to his audience that he, a black man and freed slave, shares in their celebrated citizenship. Douglass, however, does not limit his correlation with the audience there; he then goes so far as to address them as “friends”. This greeting and introduction perfectly prefaces the righteous ridicule that is to come. These men, products of the free town of Rochester, are oblivious to the absurd juxtaposition that is present before

Those that stand in support of the flag maintain it is not a symbol of racism at all, but rather stands as a declaration of rebellion and the pride they take in being a rebel. They argue that the flag did not represent being pro slavery, but simply the more generic idea of being pro rebellion against government infringement. This is an issue because even if it was about rebellion, what the rebellion was in opposition so (the emancipation of slaves) taints the cause. It is not possible to simply extract the key issue from the cause and maintain the “purity” of the

Although African-Americans had won the right to vote and theoretically won equality, this was not the case for them in reality. They were still being denied the same freedoms as they had been denied when they were slaves; the most prominent being the right to vote. In the political cartoon “This is a White Man Government,” Thomas Nast (the author) critiques yet exploits the sentiments of the South. The title itself gives away the anti-black attitudes, but the content of the image itself portrays the true feelings and actions actually taken by whites to restrict blacks from the freedoms they earned. In the image, three white men are standing on a black man and the American flag, while the black man is attempting to reach for a ballot box to cast his vote. The white men are clearly hurting the black man through these actions, which emphasizes the fact that they are threatening not only the black’s freedoms (in this case specifically, the freedom to vote), but their safety as well. This makes the argument that blacks were more harmed after their freedoms than during their slavery.

He demonstrates that Northern Republicans, Southern Conservatives and Southern Radicals all had reasons to court black citizens. With blacks being given the right to vote, the parties had to appeal to blacks also in order to win elections.

Within Thomas Nast’s cartoon “This Is a White Man’s Government” each individual person and object represents how society views the topic of slavery while also depicting how African-Americans and former slaves viewed the world around them. Despite there only being four individuals that are portrayed within the image, each of these individuals is significant while also helping to contribute to the overall meaning behind the political cartoon. Although this cartoon was published in the mid to late nineteenth century, experts still agree that the background of the illustration is very significant when describing the viewpoints of those who opposed the decision to end slavery. Analysts state that “[b]lack schools and asylums set aflame and lynched bodies hanging from

After four years of bloody battles and 620,000 deaths, the North finally won the war slavery, and African Americans were free; but the freedom that they envisioned was nonexistent. Their freedom was tied down by numerous of factors, including South’s effort to re-establish slavery conditions, wavering support from the North, White Supremacy organizations, Capitalism, and most importantly, the failed Reconstruction Acts. This Is a White Man’s Government is a cartoon that was published in Harper’s Weekly, a popular cultural newspaper that advocated equality for Blacks, and was predominantly read by Northerners and Union workers. Some say that an image can speak a thousand words, this cartoon by Thomas Nast effortlessly succeeds in doing so by capturing the bleak reality of the freedom that African Americans had in the 1860s thanks to the ineffective implementation of the Reconstruction Acts by the Democrats, who did little to break down the facade of freedom that was given to the Blacks after the Civil War.

This duality, this mixture of something wonderful and something equally terrible really captures for me the state of the country during the Reconstruction period. A lot of pulling and pushing. The african-americans had been freed but to what purpose? Even when granted the Fifteenth amendment allowing black males the right to vote, they were still disenfranchised through state laws which kept them from voting through legal loopholes and to top it off, none of this did much in the way of women's suffrage. Again, back to the pulling and pushing struggle. Sort of like "two steps forward but three steps back." When thinking of the Reconstruction era one must also remember the violence that lingered on. The formation of the Ku Klux Klan was birthed in that era and from that violence. Such a prolific group full of hate and detestable rhetoric that lingers on to this day. One good example of that violence is given in our text when it describes the events of Hamburg, South Carolina on July 4th, 1876. The violence of one-thousand armed white men obliterating one-hundred african amercan men. I would be remiss not to recall the freedmen bureau, the many charities towards education as well as the government

In “Colored Rule in a Reconstructed State” by Thomas Nash, there is an obvious difference in how the African American politicians and the Southern white politicians are depicted. The African American politicians are standing, yelling and seem more aggressive. In the description, there are claims that these politicians are calling each other “thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards.” However, the southern white politicians seem to be reluctant to join in the argument as they stand to the side. I believe Nash is trying to portray the African American politicians based on how many Americans thought they would be, which is unprofessional and incompetent. By having the two separate groups of politicians to contrast, Nash if creating a dramatic effect to exhibit his point. Because the cartoon was published in 1874, support for reconstruction had eroded and this cartoon speaks for the many people who had changed their opinions about Reconstruction.

The American flag not only stands for pride, freedom, and strength but the colors on the flag have a meaning behind them that all Americans should understand. In a description of the flag on a website dedicated solely to the Flag of the United States of America is states "The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice" (US Flag 2005). The flag was not just thrown together to represent the country but also have a true meaning behind them. The stars and stripes on the flag have both an exact meaning but also have the meaning of

On the anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination and the emancipation of slaves in D.C., on April 14, 1876, a memorial of Abraham Lincoln was put on full display. Frederick Douglass, a former slave and advocate of black citizens, gave an arousing address during the celebration. This speech is given 11 years after the assassination of Lincoln and during this time in the U.S. many political issues are arising. For instance, the government ordered all Native Americans onto the reservations on the western side of the United States causing many of them to fight back the government. The presidential election also had its despairing moments when the democratic nomination won the popular vote but then lost in the Electoral and many were still feeling the effects of the Lincoln’s assassination. The monument shows a black kneeling at Lincoln’s feet which Douglass had his issues with. He questioned why the man was not standing as a free man.