Political Cartoons

The picture portrayed here by Thomas Nash is one of a Chinese immigrant in America looking at a sign that states the prohibition of Chinese immigration. The Chinese individual obviously looks on in disgust as he is reading this with his arms crossed. Behind him stands a Native American with the depiction below stating “Red Gentleman to Yellow Gentleman “Pale face ‘fraid you crowd him out, as he did me.” Obviously the colors are reflective of what today can be seen as politically incorrect with the red gentleman referring to the Native American, the yellow gentleman referring to the Chinese Gentleman, and the Pale face referring to the white American. Above the two individuals is a picture showing a figure representative of a Chinese immigrant chasing after a rail locomotive with the words “Go East” underneath it. This would refer to the desire of the “Pale Face” for the return of the Chinese back to Asia. On top of this depiction is the rail locomotive chasing a figure representative of a Native American, with the words “Go West” under it. This would be representative of the “Pale Face” pushing expansion further west along with displacing the Native American groups that occupied land that stood in the expansionist way. Included on the wall above and below the sign calling for prohibition of Chinese immigration is a small sign for the KKK calling for the demise of the “nigger.” This is quite interesting as racial tensions would be very high between the whites and blacks at this time, but yet this is a very miniscule sign compared to the one in regards to the Chinese. You see in the background of the picture a black gentleman apparently completely at ease with what the other two characters are dealing with.  This character appears to have a smile on his face with a very relaxed posture with the words, “My day is coming,” behind him. It’s almost as if his frustrations that they have felt are now the frustrations of the Chinese and Native Americans.