Thomas Nast was a caricaturist and editorial cartoonist, born on September 27, 1840. In his cartoons he attacked the racist policies of Democrats of the "Solid South," the KKK, and the corruption of the Tammany Hall political organization. He supported African-Americans, Chinese immigrants, and Native Americans. Unfortunately, he used racial stereotypes in his cartoons and lampooned Irish immigrants and Catholics. His drawings of Santa Claus gave us our popular images of the big guy. (In one of these cartoons, Santa is scolding two congressmen for not doing their jobs: some things never change, LOL) Nast was also the first to use the elephant as a symbol of the Republican Party. Years ago I begged my parents to buy me a bound volume of 1876 Harper's Weekly magazine from the antique dealer in Pocahontas, IL. I used to show it to my history students at UAkron. The volume is filled with Nast's cartoons, including this one that helped bring down Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall, an infamous figure of the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment