Judge — April 28, 1900 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This two-panel cartoon satirizes racist hypocrisy in American churches. In the first panel, "Parson Rurps" (a stereotyped Black preacher) declares confidently that no one in his congregation is destined for damnation. The second panel reveals his contradiction: he immediately exempts "de coon dat did de carpenter-work fer dis altar"—excluding the Black laborer who built the altar from salvation. The satire targets the moral inconsistency of religious figures who preach universal Christian values while simultaneously dehumanizing Black workers. The crude dialect and caricature reflect the period's offensive visual conventions, but the cartoon's point criticizes the preacher's hypocrisy and racism. The title "Well Put" suggests ironic approval of his "honest" admission of prejudice.