A Darktown Law Suit--Part Second: The Case is Dismissed with an Extra Allowance to the Attorney

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 caricatures three surprised Black (African American) men, two of whom are tossed into the air by a kicking cow. At left, the cow's rearing legs have just hit a man wearing a blue shirt and patched pants; he falls head first into the top rail of a wooden fence, causing it to break. At right, the falling man --wearing a yellow shirt and white plaid pants --looks terrified as he may land on the cows horns. The third man (wearing a red jacket and white pants) has landed face down on the grassy ground; milk from an overturned bucket covers his back and the ground surrounding his head; a piece of paper imprinted "SKINNER/ATTY AT LAW" is stuck to his backside. The title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin.

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.