Judge — May 15, 1897 — page 20: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page from *Judge* magazine features cartoons by "Zim" (Eugene Zimmerman) depicting bicycles as tools for missionary work in Africa. The central large illustration shows a bicycle as a powerful force—literally radiating energy—being used to spread Christianity and Western influence across the continent. The surrounding smaller panels illustrate various scenarios where bicycles facilitate missionary activities: transporting missionaries, reaching remote populations, and converting African peoples. This reflects late-19th/early-20th-century attitudes celebrating Western technological superiority and the "civilizing mission" of colonialism. The satire likely mocks both the exaggerated faith in technology's transformative power and the patronizing view of African peoples as passive recipients of Western "progress" and religion.