A Darktown Wedding -- The Send Off

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 Black (African American) people at a wedding. As a bashful bride (with eyes downcast) and a beaming, wide-eyed groom descend a short staircase of a wooden building, four people on the porch celebrate-- two holding shoes to throw at the couple as a wedding custom. The couple is fancily dressed: the bride wears a white dress and white veil adorned with a yellow/red pattern and floral wreaths; the groom wears a top hat, black jacket (with a rose boutonniere in the lapel), blue/gray striped pants and spats. On the porch from right to left, the group includes a woman in a blue dress throwing rice at the couple; a man in white shirtsleeves with a shoe in his upraised right arm; a yellow-kerchieved woman, dressed in white, also holds a shoe; and a bald older man (in a tan jacket) waves. On the ground at right, two men and a woman stand and smile at the newly wedded couple: one man wears a blue jacket, white vest and hat (with a dark band), and green, patched pants; the other man wears a red shirt and blue pants and a yellow straw hat; and the woman wears a yellow kerchief (with a red star pattern), a white shawl and white apron over her red skirt. At left, a boy, wearing a red shirt and blue pants, is poised to throw a large black boot at the couple.The title is 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.