6.+Reconstruction+Political+Cartoons

  **__Reconstruction Political Cartoons__**



The white men in the back of the cartoon that are protesting, represent people that are against civil rights for African Americans. The women kneeling next to African American represents the government. The rag she is holding with the word “suffrage” is symbolizes the right to vote, which is what she wants to give to the African Americans. The skull and crossbones on the flag the white men are holding, suggests the author thinks the action of the white men are bad, but the weak facial expression on the woman suggests that the author thought the government didn’t have the power to enforce the African American’s right to vote.



This cartoon demonstrates the fact that even though African American’s right to vote was acknowledge, it didn’t mean that voting was easy. The escalator the white men can use represents that white men have the easy route to vote. The winding path full of obstacles shows that the white men were going to make it near impossible for the African Americans to vote. The author most likely made this political cartoon to show the unfairness of the voting system for African Americans, and how the white men didn’t want the African American votes counting.

The woman represents the government. By her facial expression and gestures it shows that she is displaying the injured African American, to an audience. By the open-endedness of the cartoon the audience is most likely the United States of America. The African American with a missing limb, represents all the African Americans that suffered. By displaying the wounded African American, the government is showing the help that the African Americans need, as well as the pain they endured. The author, by showing the caring expression on the women’s face and calm, knowing face on the African Americans, feels that the African Americans that suffered should be supported and help ed.

The name of this political cartoon is “One Less Vote”. It displays an African American dead during the reconstruction period. The engraving on the stone reads "Negroe Killed, Seymour Ratification, KKK." The cartoon implies that the African American was killed because of the Reconstruction and the 15 th  amendment. The southern people feared that the African American votes would throw off the balance of politics in the North’s favor so they felt that killing them would help put the balance back into the South’s favor. This author is clearly against the killing of African Americans, because of the brutal scene the author drew. The woman with the sword in this cartoon represents Colombia (the government). The men charging, represent people who are opposed to civil rights for African Americans. You can see in the far left an army of African Americans. This is what the “White Men’s League” are attacking. The dead African American represents that the white men will kill to stop civil rights. The woman, Colombia, and her sword represent the government’s direct opposition to the actions of the “White Men’s League”. The author seems to agree with the Government’s actions because of the brutal death in the front of the cartoon.

The cartoon takes place during desegregation. The African Americans are moving into an all white neighborhood. The white children stare at the African American children imposingly and mockingly. Even the white children’s dog, represents aggression over the African American children’s cat. The white children also out number the African American children to represent superiority over them. The author’s point of view was that the desegregation had a long way to go.

Politcal Cartoons Role

The role that political cartoons played in society was like propaganda. The cartoons put the image into the minds of the people that, in this case, shows the hardships that these people went through for rights. They were went to show what is going on in the world and what needs to be changed.

( 1865, August 5). American Experience. Retrieved May 7, 2009, from Reconstruction The Second Civil War Web site: []

(1871). Halt!. Retrieved May 7, 2009, from A sword wielding Columbia drives back thugs from the White Man Web site: []

(Unkown). American Experience. Retrieved May 7, 2009, from Reconstruction The Second Civil War Web site: [] Nast, Thomas (1868). img0054 Cartoon. Retrieved May 7, 2009, from Southern Democracy as Delilah Shears the Hair of Suffrage off a Black Samson Web site: []

Pata, Angela History of Jim Crow. Retrieved May 7, 2009, Web site: []

Rockwell, Norman (Unkown). Moving in?. Retrieved May 7, 2009, Web site: []

By: Nikoli Cartagena <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: 'Arial Black'; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Arial Black'; mso-color-index: 1; language: en-US; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">