The Result is in Doubt: "De one you's gets de water outen fust, am de winner."

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.

In this print, there are six caricatured Black (African American) men on a dock. Two men extract water from two unconscious, drowned swimmers, both dressed in old-fashioned, striped men's bathing suits, while two other men stand wide-eyed and somewhat alarmed as they observe the rescue efforts. At left, one man -- dressed in striped pants (with a pocket patch), a checked jacket and dress shoes with spats-- pushes the sides of a swimmer (dressed in a red/black stripped swimming outfit) who is draped belly down over a barrel; water gushes out of the swimmer's mouth. At right, kneeling at the end of the dock, the other man (dressed in a brimmed hat, blue-gray jacket and checked pants) kneels beside the head of the second swimmer; the rescuer holds a pump/funnel-water-extracting device in the mouth of the swimmer (dressed in yellow/blue-green striped swimsuit) lying on his back..Surrounding the dock is a body of water, with low hills in the background. The print's 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.