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Artist/Maker
Thomas Nast
(American, born Germany, 1840 - 1902)
Datepublished October 3, 1868
MediumWood engraving on newsprint
DimensionsComposition: 9 1/8 × 13 3/4 in. (23.2 × 34.9 cm)
Sheet: 15 3/4 × 10 5/8 in. (40 × 27 cm)
Credit LineGift of Professor Emeritus Jay Williams, Class of 1954
Object number2019.13.103
Not on view
Description"In March 1876, Congress ratified the first Reconstruction Act and the fourteen Confederate states were forced to comply with the legislation. One of the stipulations of the Act was black male suffrage. Though giving black males the right to vote was unpopular among southerners, all but three states complied. The resistance of many politicians to grant this right is the subject of this image, which Nast based upon the Old Testament story of the Israelite hero, Samson. Samson had superhuman strength because he obeyed all of Gob’s rules, abstained from alcohol, did not eat unclean meat, and never cut his hair. Samson’s lover, Delilah, cut his hair in his sleep, causing Samson to lose his strength, which lead to his capture by the philistines. Nast depicts an African-American Samson, and a white Delilah who personifies Southern Democracy. Delilah cuts Samson’s Hair, in this case stripping the freed slave of his rights. This image is one of very few in thick Nast portrays women in a negative light. A group of Democratic politicians and Ku Klux Klan members, including presidential candidate Horatio Seymour, protest the end of Slavery and the 14th Amendment. The stature of Moses bears a striking resemblance to Andrew Johnson, who was considered the Moses of black Americans, even though he vetoes giving suffrage to African-American men. In this case, instead of the Ten Commandments, Johnson holds a tablet that says, “Veto,” emphasizing his hypocrisy.”
(SOURCE: Susanna White, "Emancipation and Denigration: Thomas Nast Pictures Black America", 2008)
Collections
Additional Details
Exhibition History
2008
Clinton, NY (Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Emancipation and Denigration: Thomas Nast Pictures Black America," January 14, 2008 - April 13, 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 left composition.
Inscribed
Title typeset beneath image in black ink. Page number "632," publisher, and publication date "October 3, 1868" typeset above image in black ink.
Thomas Nast
Date: published August 5, 1865
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.71
Thomas Nast
Date: published March 14, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.234
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 11, 1871
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.153
Thomas Nast
Date: published January 24, 1863
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.28
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 17, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.255
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 20, 1869
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.111
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Date: 2018
Medium: Pigment print with silkscreen diamond dust and gold foil
Object number: 2020.1
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 24, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.256
Thomas Nast
Date: published August 27, 1883
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 1944.1.15