Judge — October 28, 1899 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This two-panel Judge cartoon satirizes a Black church pastor (Parson Crowe) using deeply offensive racial caricature and dialect. **The "joke":** In panel one, the pastor announces he'll collect alcohol bottles from congregation members to "pour away." In panel four minutes later, he's secretly drinking the confiscated liquor—his stated moral purpose inverted into personal benefit. **The satire targets:** The cartoon relies on racist stereotypes portraying Black clergy as hypocritical, dishonest, and alcoholic. It mocks both the pastor's deception and implies the congregation's assumed drinking habits. **Historical context:** This reflects late 19th/early 20th-century white satirical magazines that routinely denigrated Black Americans through exaggerated dialect, caricature, and scenarios designed to demean. The "Zion" church banner establishes the religious setting for maximum ironic effect. The cartoon is offensive by modern standards and exemplifies how period satire often weaponized race.