Thomas Nast: "The Father of the American Cartoon"

"Give me the pictures and I'll give you the war"
                               - William Randolph Hearst

Although Thomas Nast, an influential cartoonist for Harper's weekly was before the above quote, the quote illustrates the importance of dissemination of information specially during the times of war. Born in Germany in 1840, him and his family moved to the United States in 1846.  At an early age, he showed his talents in drawing which led him to work at Harper's Weekly, the most influential magazine during the Civil War, in 1862.

Called "our best recruiting sergeant" by Abraham Lincoln, his drawings depicted battlefields, which contained powerful imagery to bring much needed attention.  With media communication in its infancy, the importance of pictures in shaping minds and opinions rests mainly on publications such as Harper's Weekly.  Nast was a "kingpin,"  someone whose thoughts, works and opinions was greatly valued by the american public as it played a huge role in the election of Rutherford Hayes to the presidency in 1876.  Hayes once said that Nast was "the most powerful, single-handed aid [he] had".  Other presidents whose elections to office was aided by Nast were Ulysses S. Grant and Grover Cleveland and of course the re election of Abraham Lincoln.

Some of his works

 

His caricature of Boss Tweed, who took control of New York City through corruption was instrumental in bringing to light the atrocities him and his committed that eventually lead to his downfall.  At one point his attacks were so damaging to Boss Tweed that he tried to bribe Nast, which he eventually refused after exposing the ploy.

This image published in the New York Illustrated news shows Lincoln's compassion towards African-Americans and the emancipation act as an elixir, a medicine to whatever ills the Southern states.  He succeeded in portraying African-Americans at that time as people and not merely property. 

The importance of his work is deeply rooted into American culture.  Among his significant works that lives on until today was his illustration of the modern-day Santa Claus, one that is rotund and jolly, the Democrats donkey and the Republican elephant, Uncle Sam, Columbia and the Tammany tiger.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said that "A good sketch is better than a long speech" or its more popular translation "A picture is worth a thousand words." and sure enough Nast's pictures were.  The detail of his drawings were exquisite and full of life. His technique was intricate where the details successfully captures the drama of a particular subject which in turn gives a nice visual presentation of the topic in hand.  One could surmise that with illiteracy rates high during that time, seeing images gives the common folk an idea on what was going on.  Its realism was thought provoking, it need not a long analysis of what is being pictured.  It was right there in front of you, direct to the point, a sure attention grabber. 

With no other information dissemination available during that time, the impact of Nast's works were eaten up by the public. His works gave credence and credibility to the ideals he believed in which helped formed policies and public opinion.  From his support of Negro rights, to his opposition to segregation his illustrations were truly influential. Imagine Oprah without the billions of dollars.  His influence was immense that he embodies the adage "The Pen is mightier than the sword."

Works cited:


"Thomas Nast." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 1998 ed. Gale Biography in
     Context. Web. 11 May 2011. 


"C . A . R . I . C . A . T . U . R . E . S Thomas Nast's Rare Lincoln Political
     Caricatures." Illinois Periodicals Online. Illinois State Library, n.d.
     Web. 11 May 2011.

Sojourner Truth: AN Icon in Women's Rights Reforms

There were a lot of women who were significant figures in the fight for women's rights.  One of them was Isabelle Baumfree, also known as Sojourner Truth.  She advocated that the women's movement "devote attention to the plight of the poor and working class women, and repudiate the idea that women were too delicate to engage in work outside the home." Her 1851 speech "Aint I a Woman" at the American Women's Rights Convention demonstrated her power and conviction to fight for women's rights.  In this speech, she talked about her years of hard labor and also demonstrated her ability to successfully ward off hecklers who were questioning her femininity.  One of her retorts from that famous speech:

"Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wan't a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?" Rolling thunder couldn't have stilled that crowd, as did those deep, wonderful tones, as she stood there with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. Raising her voice still louder, she repeated, "Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin' to do wid Him." Oh, what a rebuke that was to that little man."

 Truth's role in the struggle for women's rights was important as it planted the seeds into what it is today, which in comparison is light years ahead of what it was, when women were merely treated as property, with no rights and relegated to child bearing and household chores.  Her contributions strengthened the movement and provided the foundation for the fight that lies ahead.  One of her greatest triumphs was desegregating the street cars in Washington DC.




The Women's rights movement was truly about equality and change rather than just keeping the peace so to speak.  As a father of a young girl, I am appreciative of the road people like Sojourner Truth has paved to give my daughter more than a fighter's punch to make it good in the future.  And for this alone, I am forever grateful.









Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009.
Truth, Sojourner. "'A'n't I a Woman?' Speech." In Andrews, James, and David Zarefsky, eds. American Voices: Significant Speeches in American History, 1640-1945. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://0-www.fofweb.com.alice.dvc.edu/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E06410&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 24, 2011).
Amalgated Transit Union Local 689. The Battle to Desegregate the DC Transit
     System . youtube.com. www.atulocal689.org, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.Photo from wikipedia.org

Jefferson loves Hemings

In searching for topics for this blog entry it has taken me to countless directions.  That was the hardest part, settling into what is interesting and historical.  Then I came across the case of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.

 Thomas Jefferson

Hemings was a slave, the half sister of Jefferson's wife. Over the years it has been debated if indeed Jefferson had an affair with Hemings. From the website www.monticello.org

"In September 1802, political journalist, James T. Callender, a disappointed office-seeker who had once been an ally of Jefferson, wrote in a Richmond newspaper that Jefferson had for many years "kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves." "Her name is Sally," Callender continued, adding that Jefferson had "several children" by her. Although there had been rumors of a sexual relationship between Jefferson and a slave before 1802, Callender's article spread the story widely. It was taken up by Jefferson's Federalist opponents and was published in many newspapers during the remainder of Jefferson's presidency."

Of course this will be denied over and over again for years, for centuries.  Perhaps people just could not accept the possibility of Jefferson having an affair with a slave.  Only until 1988 when DNA evidence showed that indeed Jefferson fathered Hemings' children.  

Some information on Sally Hemings:

• Sally Hemings (1773-1835) was a slave at Monticello; she lived in Paris with Jefferson and two of his daughters from 1787 to 1789; and she had at least six children.
• Sally Hemings' duties included being a nursemaid-companion to Thomas Jefferson's daughter Maria (c. 1784-1787), lady's maid to daughters Martha and Maria (1787-1797), and chambermaid and seamstress (1790s-1827).
• There are no known images of Sally Hemings and only four known descriptions of her appearance or demeanor.
• Sally Hemings left no known written accounts. It is not known if she was literate.
• In the few scattered references to Sally Hemings in Thomas Jefferson's records and correspondence, there is nothing to distinguish her from other members of her family.
• Thomas Jefferson was at Monticello at the likely conception times of Sally Hemings' six known children. There are no records suggesting that she was elsewhere at these times, or records of any births at times that would exclude Jefferson paternity.
• There are no indications in contemporary accounts by people familiar with Monticello that Sally Hemings' children had different fathers.
• Sally Hemings' children were light-skinned, and three of them (daughter Harriet and sons Beverly and Eston) lived as members of white society as adults.
• According to contemporary accounts, some of Sally Hemings' children strongly resembled Thomas Jefferson.
• Thomas Jefferson freed all of Sally Hemings' children: Beverly and Harriet were allowed to leave Monticello in 1822; Madison and Eston were released in Jefferson's 1826 will. Jefferson gave freedom to no other nuclear slave family.
• Thomas Jefferson did not free Sally Hemings. She was permitted to leave Monticello by his daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph not long after Jefferson's death in 1826, and went to live with her sons Madison and Eston in Charlottesville.
• Several people close to Thomas Jefferson or the Monticello community believed that he was the father of Sally Hemings' children.
• Eston Hemings changed his name to Eston Hemings Jefferson in 1852.
• Madison Hemings stated in 1873 that he and his siblings Beverly, Harriet, and Eston were Thomas Jefferson's children.
• The descendants of Madison Hemings who have lived as African-Americans have passed a family history of descent from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings down through the generations.
• Eston Hemings' descendants, who have lived as whites, have passed down a family history of being related to Thomas Jefferson. In the 1940s, family members changed this history to state that an uncle of Jefferson's, rather than Jefferson himself, was their ancestor.

The source was an acknowledgment by the heirs of Jefferson.  It shows that Jefferson indeed had an affair with Hemings.  It took DNA testing for this statement to come to fruition. 





Source:

"Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account." www.monticello.org. N.p.,      n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.monticello.org/site/      plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-brief-account>.

Photo from wikipedia.com