The struggle for emancipation in the Civil War produced some
memorable cartoons. One such example appeared in Harper’s Weekly
in its issue of August 16, 1862. The caption for the cartoon
reads, “DROWNING GENTLEMAN. ‘Take that Rope away, you darned
Nigger! What decent White Man, do you suppose, is going to allow
himself to be saved by a confounded Nig — ‘ (Goes down,
consistent to the last.)” Of course, the point of the cartoon
was to criticize people in the North that opposed letting
African Americans get more directly involved in the war,
especially as soldiers. By late summer 1862, it was increasingly
clear that the Union could not win the war if it did make war on
slavery and enlist the slaves themselves in the fight. While
this idea still faced considerable opposition, its opponents
increasingly looked as ridiculous as the drowning man in this
cartoon.