The Darktown Yacht Club--Hard Up for a Breeze: The Cup in Danger

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 a boating scene with caricatured Black (African American) men. Three sailors and their captain dressed in blue naval uniforms and caps are on a sailboat. At left, the captain holds the boat's steering wheel as he bends over to look through a telescope tied to the bent-over body of one of his crew. At right, in an effort to create wind in the sail, two sailors squeeze bellows to emit puffs of air; meanwhile, one of them also blows into the sail, while his crewmate waves a fan (his teeth holding one of handles of the bellows to free his right hand to hold the fan). Their sailboat is named "PURE-RAT-TAN." Many sailboats are In the left background, while the distant shore dominates the right background. 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.