November 1869, in the first year of the Grant administration — and Nast put aside his own prejudices enough to invite the Irish guy to dinner, along with many others.
With a nation whose emotions are raw from events in Ferguson, Missouri, and Paris, France, and rejections of desperate refugees from was being rejected in their calls for asylum, could there be a better, more timely reminder of what we’re supposed to be doing?
(Click for a larger image — it’s well worth it.)
Thomas Nast’s “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving,” 1869 – Ohio State University’s cartoon collection, and HarpWeek
As described at the Ohio State site:
“Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner” marks the highpoint of Nast’s Reconstruction-era idealism. By November 1869 the Fourteenth Amendment, which secures equal rights and citizenship to all Americans, was ratified. Congress had sent the Fifteenth Amendment, which forbade racial discrimination in voting rights, to the states and its ratification appeared certain. Although the Republican Party had absorbed a strong nativist element in the 1850s, its commitment to equality seemed to overshadow lingering nativism, a policy of protecting the interests of indigenous residents against immigrants. Two national symbols, Uncle Sam and Columbia, host all the peoples of the world who have been attracted to the United States by its promise of self-government and democracy. Germans, African Americans, Chinese, Native Americans, Germans, French, Spaniards: “Come one, come all,” Nast cheers at the lower left corner.
One of my Chinese students identified the Oriental woman as Japanese, saying it was “obvious.” Other friends say both are Chinese. Regional differences. The figure at the farthest right is a slightly cleaned-up version of the near-ape portrayal Nast typically gave Irishmen.
If Nast could put aside his biases to celebrate the potential of unbiased immigration to the U.S. and the society that emerges, maybe we can, too.
Hope your day is good; hope you have good company and good cheer, turkey or not. Happy Thanksgiving. And of course, remember to fly your flag!
More: Earlier posts from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
- “Round-up of Thanksgiving Op-eds,” 2008
- “Thanksgiving 2008: Fly your flag” (some history of the holiday here)
- Original from 2006: “Texas claim on Thanksgiving” (Patricia Burroughs, are you still defending Texas’s claim to the first Thanksgiving?
- The Mayflower Compact and explanation
- “Geography Lesson,” note that the Farm School blog was on the way to find Thanksgiving in New York City — lots of resources for teachers
- Thanksgiving 2012 – Fly your flag
And in 2013:
- Celebrating Thanksgiving: two coasts – two interpretations! (thomasnastcartoons.wordpress.com)
- Will the real Uncle Sam stand up! (timesunion.com)
- What Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving Picture’s Really About (bigthink.com)
- Uncle Sam, ain’t need Education (adamthung.wordpress.com)
Yes, if you’re a faithful reader here, you’ve seen it before.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] Thomas Nast’s “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving,” 2015 post […]
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[…] While Nast could be partisan, as in his portrayal of Democrats as mules kicking down a barn, or Republicans as noble elephants, and Nast could be subject to bigotry, as in his frequent jabs at Catholics and his portrayal of Irish immigrants as near-gorillas, much of his work in illustration for Harper’s and other publications offered a vision of a much better America which welcomed everyone — as his later portrayal of “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving” in 1869 demonstrated. […]
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