'Pardon' and 'Franchise', from "Harper's Weekly"

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'Pardon' and 'Franchise', from "Harper's Weekly"
'Pardon' and 'Franchise', from "Harper's Weekly"
Artist/Maker (American, born Germany, 1840 - 1902)
Datepublished August 5, 1865
MediumWood engraving on newsprint
DimensionsComposition (a): 13 1/2 in. × 9 in. (34.3 × 22.9 cm) Composition (b): 13 1/2 × 9 1/8 in. (34.3 × 23.2 cm) Sheet: 16 3/8 × 22 15/16 in. (41.6 × 58.3 cm)
Credit LineGift of Professor Emeritus Jay Williams, Class of 1954
Object number2019.13.71
Not on view
Description"This double image questions the way African-American war heroes were treated compared to their white contemporaries. In Pardon, white politicians practically worship Columbia, with Andrew Johnson bowing down to ask for her approval. Here Columbia is weighty, larger than life, and bored, compared to Franchise, where she is engaged, passionate, and the same size as the black war hero she points towards and encourages others to respect. Though black soldiers made a huge impact by fighting for the Union, they were not given as much respect as RObert E. Lee and his white counterparts, even though white soldiers often spent less time actually fighting than the African-American soldiers.” (SOURCE: Susanna White, "Emancipation and Denigration: Thomas Nast Pictures Black America", 2008)
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Additional Details

Alternate Titles Shall I Trust these Men? And Not this Man?, from "Harper's Weekly"
Exhibition History 2008
Clinton, NY (Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Emancipation and Denigration: Thomas Nast Pictures Black America," January 14, 2008 - April 13, 2008
Provenance 2019: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by gift of Jay G. Williams.
Published References Susanna White, EMANCIPATION AND DENIGRATION: THOMAS NAST PICTURES BLACK AMERICA, exh. cat. (Clinton, NY: Emerson Gallery, 2008)
Signature Signed "Th Nast" in block at lower right composition.
Inscribed Title typeset beneath images in black ink. Page number "488," publisher, and publication date "August 5, 1863" typeset above composition a in black ink. Publication date, publisher, and page number "489" typeset above composition b at top of the sheet.
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