A Darktown Race -- Facing the Flag: Match beween "His Lowness" and "The Stretcher" for De Gate Money

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.　

This print depicts caricatured Black (African American) men at a rural horse racetrack at the start of a race. Two mounted jockeys--one short and plump on a white horse, and the other tall and thin on a brown horse-- await the flag signal from the portly judge standing on a barrel. Two more judges stand inside a makeshift, wooden stand, labeled "JUDGES/STAND/COONY ISLAND/JOCKEY CLUB". The short, chubby jockey wears yellow pants, a red/pink shirt with polka dots, a red/pink hat; his holey shoe exposes his toes as it sets in a stirrup made from a handkerchief. He is holding a baseball bat instead of a riding crop. Behind him, the lanky jockey with a long thin neck wears a blue shirt and a yellow cap; he holds a spike instead of a riding crop. All the judges wear suits and top hats; the flag-bearing judge also wears a plaid vest over striped pants in pinkish-red tones. The title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin.


Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), 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 (1824–1895), the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law, was made a business partner. Subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued via their successors until 1907.