The Darktown Banjo Class -- Off the Key: "If yous can't play de music, jes leff de banjo go!"

The late nineteenth-century Darktown prints by Currier & Ives depict racist stereotypes that are offensive and disturbing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves such works to shed light on their historical context and to enable the study and evaluation of racism.

Historically, the banjo, a stringed musical instrument, was associated with traditional Black (African American) music, as well as with the folk and bluegrass music of rural white people. Later, banjo playing was incorporated via minstral shows into other popular styles of American music. In this print, five caricatured Black (African-American) people -- three men and two women wearing brightly colored clothing -- each hold a banjo (yet do not play the strings) as they look at each other with downcast mouths in dismay. The title and caption is imprinted in the bottom margin. The figures are the same ones who appeared in the companion print, "The Darktown Banjo Class -- All in Tune" (Metropolitan Museum of Art acc. no. 52.632.83).

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.