Judge, 1899-07-15 · page 16 of 16
Judge — July 15, 1899 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes an all-Black poker club's initiation ritual through crude racial stereotypes. The "President" (depicted with exaggerated features) poses a riddle to a new member that equates possessing a royal flush with "holding" a white man's wife—implying both are punishable by death. The satire targets two audiences: it mocks Black men as violent and lawless (suggesting they'd shoot over poker), while also implying white supremacist anxieties about interracial relationships. The "Walled Off Poker Club" and "Search Committee" references suggest insularity and exclusion. The humor relies entirely on racist caricature and period assumptions about Black criminality. The cartoon reflects late-19th-century attitudes that positioned Black communities as inherently dangerous, using a poker-club setting as cover for depicting them as threatening. This represents Judge magazine's routine deployment of blackface stereotypes as "comedy."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
REGULATIONS OF | “>. {ANY MEMBAA BON g seer eraae sy 2 THE cauT | New Membanrs must > CHEATIN, [io Submit to A Examnati Deion Hs Ob Aey Pusson for 7 é PRIngd > | Dismissep} Conceatn WE a WALLEDOFF <CAsToRIA POKER cLuB comicbooks.com FRI iy * 3 Search Committge- COPYRIGHT 1899 BY JUCGE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. ‘Sackett & Wilbelms Lito & Phy Co New York THE INITIATORY CONUNDRUM. Presipent (Polkadot poker «lub)—** We always gives dis conundrum to new membahs : * Why is a royal-flush like a white man's wife?” New mamper—'I gives it up. Why is it?” Paxsipent—" Because, if yo’ gits caught holding either one ‘round here yo'll git shot !"