Reconstruction Political Cartoons By: Kaylee Singleton Jordan Castillo

In this cartoon there are three white men, standing with one leg on a black man who looks beaten to the ground. The white men look as if they are on a team, or working together. Among the white men, the man all the way to the right is holding an envelope which reads “Capital”. This shows how the man is from the government, and gives the main idea of how the white Southerners believe that the American government should be of only Whites, and not blacks.

The Ku Klux Klan want and attempted to get all freed slaves gone and/or dead. In the cartoon, there is a person in a white outfit and a plain southerner joining an alliance over the family of blacks. This action represents how the Southerners and KKK members wanted the recently freed slaves dead or slaves, once again. The caption that reads “Worse Than Slavery”, which is above the families heads, means that the southerners and KKK members would rather have blacks as slaves, instead of them being free. the caption, “The Union As It Was”, also shows how they wished everything back as it was before, without freed slaves.

This cartoon shows the South’s opinion on freed slaves. The top shows the time when they do get freed, and the bottom shows what they think will happen next. The Southern don’t believe the emancipation of the slaves are right. In the top scene, slaves are celebrating because of their freedom. The bottom situation shows the whites being in replace of the slaves, which represents their opinion that the slaves are going to override them.

This cartoon shows the belief that if the south is reconstructed, they will come back and try to take revenge, again, on the North. The caption at the top that says “Southern Justice” represents, what the south feels should happen. The south feels that they deserve justice from the North. The author successfully portrays the feelings of the South. It also shows how they feel is what will be the outcome, after reconstruction.

In this cartoon, Nast shows the past of what society used to be like and what society is now, because of Emancipation. The inner circle shows a family of blacks in acting in a way with rights, just as the whites have. It mainly represents what Emancipation could bring them. The outer pictures or scenes show situations that slaved blacks used to be in, without their rights. The outer pictures show abuse and the true horrors of what slaves used to go through without emancipation.

In this political cartoon, there is a black man laying dead in front of a grave stone that states “Negroe killed, Seymour Ratification, KKK”. The 14 th amendment was passed, which gave all slaves the right to vote. This threatened the white southerners political power. The freed slave is dead in this picture to show how the southerners rejected the slaves rights and wished for them to be non- existent. The author does a great job showing the intense feelings between the blacks and whites.