Darktown Athletics -- A Quarter Mile Dash: One has de speed and de oder de bottom

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 sports scene shows two Black (African American) men running a track race from left to right. One, wearing a yellow and blue striped shirt, is short and plump, while the other, wearing a pink shirt with red dots, is tall and thin with very long legs and arms. In the background is a crowd of cheering Black men -- many with caricatured lips; eight men stand at left, whose nine spectators at the right are in a viewing stand. The caption (imprinted in bottom margin) refers to the body types of the two racers runnng a quarter mile dash.



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.