Darktown Bicycling -- Scooped de Pear and Sumfins Busted

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 caricatured figures. A Black (African American) man has fallen from a tree branch (as he had climbed it to grab a pear which he holds in his right hand), and he has landed on top of two Black cyclists who had been riding by underneath the tree. The fallen tree climber has caused the cyclists to be airborne from the accident, with their bikes smashed on the dirt road. The bottom victim is a large woman (dressed in a puffy red/dotted jacket with gold-yellow lapels), who has her arms outstretched as she "flies" through one of her bike tires. Her companion (wearing an orange shirt and blue pants) is landing cross-ways on top of her, with the unfortunate tree climber on his back. The tree branch above is broken. A white house is in the left background. At the far right, a loose bicycle wheel leans against a white rail fence; the sign labeled "DARKTOWN" points in the direction behind the cyclists. The title and caption are imprinted beneath the image.

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.