The Darktown Bicycle Club -- On Parade: "Hooray for de rumatic! Don't she glide lubly."

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 shows two Black (African American) couples riding bicycles from the left middleground to the center foreground. In the background, crowds of Black townsfolk spectators enthusiastically watch from the street (or from upper story building windows lining the street). Leading the line of four bike riders is a man,who wears a cap, a grey/dark red striped outfit adorned by a green bow tie; he rides a bike with inflated pneumatic tires. Yet instead of having his feet on the pedals, he lifts his legs up horizontally so they flank the front wheel. He looks back at his female companion (and the title caption refers to his words about the smooth ride); her white-gloved hands are firmly on the handles as she stares straight ahead and bravely pedals her bike equipped with its hard rubber wheels. She is dressed in a red dotted skirt, a red/yellow striped blouse with a white ruffle collar, and a red hat adorned with peacock feathers. She is followed by a couple riding larger bikes (but also with hard rubber tires): the woman wears a blue dress and a feather-adorned hat, while her companion wears a red shirt and yellow pants and cap. In the right middle ground, there is a building identified as the "OD FELLERS HALL"; a Black woman stands in its doorway. At the far right, a Black boy tugs the rope attached arround the neck of a goat pulling away. Title and caption are imprinted in the bottom margin.

When this print was made, bicycle manufactures had begun to replace the solid, hard rubber tires attached to the wheel rims with removable pneumatic tires inflated with air. These newer tires resulted in smoother, easier-to-pedal, faster rides. In this print's companion print (see accession number 52.632.85), however, viewers discovered that the rider bragging about his pneumatic tires experienced an accident instead.

Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, marines, railroads, portraits, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. The firm operated until 1907. Images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company; later, prints were printed in color.