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 “One of the First-Fruits of the Victory”
  Cartoonist:  Thomas Nast
  Source:  Harper's Weekly
  Date:   November 22, 1884, p. 763

Click to see a large version of this cartoon...

Click to see a large version of this cartoon

Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
A former abolitionist and long-time advocate of civil rights for black Americans, cartoonist Thomas Nast presents "one of the first-fruits of the victory" of Democrat Grover Cleveland as the reconciliation between white and black Southerners. A confident President-elect Cleveland admonishes them to "Shake [hands] heartily, boys!" as a wary-looking black man accepts the outstretched hand of a white Southerner. To support his prediction, Nast includes an excerpt from the Atlanta Constitution promising better race relations in the South. George William Curtis also sounded an optimistic note in his lead editorial of the Harper's Weekly issue in which this cartoon appears. In reality, nothing was further from the truth. Dominant segments of the white population in the South continued to discriminate against their black neighbors, and established a legal system of racial segregation in schools, transportation, hotels, and other public accommodations. By the spring of 1886, Curtis was again criticizing Southern Democrats for their ill treatment of black Americans.
 

 

 

 
 

 

     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 

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