"The Nigger" in the Woodpile

1860
Not on view
This political caricature uses a highly offensive racial epithet that was a common colloquialism in 1860, pointing to the casual racism that permiated American culture at that date. The image shows a Black man imprisoned in a kind of wooden jail to comment on Abraham Lincoln's indeciveness towards slavery when he first ran for the presidency.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: "The Nigger" in the Woodpile
  • Artist: Probably after Louis Maurer (American (born Germany), Biebrich 1832–1932 New York)
  • Publisher: Currier & Ives (American, active New York, 1857–1907)
  • Sitter: Abraham Lincoln (American, Hardin County, Kentucky 1809–1865 Washington, D.C.)
  • Sitter: Horace Greeley (American, 1811–1872)
  • Date: 1860
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Image: 9 1/8 × 14 1/2 in. (23.2 × 36.8 cm)
    Sheet: 13 9/16 × 18 1/8 in. (34.4 × 46 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of A. S. Colgate, 1952
  • Object Number: 52.632.197
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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