Analyzing Political Cartoons

In much of contemporary history, people made statements by making cartoons. I don't mean comic strips like Garfield or Dilbert, but rather political cartoons-the oldest source of political humor. Going as far back to Ancient Greece, these drawings have hidden within their witty comments and satirical nature a way to contextualize the era from which they originate. As history students, it will often be your job to find out why the cartoon was created and what it means; political cartoons are used in many questions on both the AP World and US History exams to determine how much you understand. But it isn't easy to find out what these comics mean; oftentimes they're old enough to have phrases, words, names unfamiliar to the modern tongue, or it talks about events you've only lightly covered in history class or haven't discussed at all. It's imperative, then, to figure out how to analyze these cartoons to ensure your grade will stay up and have an easier time in history class.

To begin, we'll need an older political cartoon. For this example, I've chosen one by famous American cartoonist Thomas Nast, called "Every Dog Has His Day". It appeared in Harper's Weekly on February 8th, 1879 in the US.

As you can see, there are many things going on in this picture. In the main focus, there appears to be two heavily stereotyped images of a Chinese immigrant and a Native American (judged by the clothing). They also appear to be upset at the writing that appears on the leftmost wall, which has phrases like "The Chinese Must Go!" and "Down on the N*gger, KKK". But what is this cartoon trying to portray? What does the native have anything to do with it? Whose that black man in the background? So many questions can get you confused on the main message of the cartoon; luckily, you can break down the cartoons's meaning with Context, Point of View, and Purpose.

Let's begin with Context. We already have a date-February 8th, 1879-so we can only use information about the US up to that point. At the time, mass immigration from both the east and west was beginning to bog down the States with Irish, Germans, and the Chinese. Because of this, many natives (not the Indians) became concerned for the well-being of the country, and how jobs were being given to migrants instead of "natives". This further led to anti-immigration sentiments from both coasts of the country. This explains the "Chinese Problem" texts on the wall, and the presence of the Chinese man, who is representing all Chinese immigrants (like these immigrants, he is disgusted at what the US is doing). 

Under the anti-Chinese text, there is a text that reads, "The Know-Nothingism of the Past: Down with the Irish, Down with the Dutch". The Know-Nothing Party was a Nativist movement form the early 1800s, that called for expulsion of the Dutch and Irish immigrants. Visually located at the bottom of the wall, and half-buried, this reveals how the present is mimicking the past (also lending to the title "Every Dog Has His Day" for being hated). 

The Indian represents the US Natives, who were forced west by the European immigrants who eventually became the "natives"; basically, he's there to show the Americans are hypocrites, seeing as they are immigrants themselves. The black man in the back is saying "My Day Is Coming", while relaxing on a hay bale. This shows that once the Chinese are dealt with, the next scapegoats for the Americans will be the blacks of America (who aren't even immigrants), who don't seem to be too surprised.

With all of this information, you can now figure out the author's Point of View. As a political cartoonist, Nast may have figured all of this hypocrisy was hilarious, and made the cartoon to demonstrate that the US may be a "melting pot", but won't be kind to any migrants. Furthermore, you can derive the Purpose of the cartoon. In this case, it seems to be making a statement that the States will go so far as to slander one race while accepting or ignoring another, and continue this cycle ad infinitum. This cartoon, basically, was made to show the US that they are being ignorant and hypocritical based on their history.

If you simply use Context, POV, and Purpose, you'll never be stuck on a political cartoon's meaning! Even if you are, it's a picture-you can derive an answer to a question based on what you see!

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep