Judge, 1909-02-06 · page 16 of 16
Judge — February 6, 1909 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a 1909 children's comic strip from *Judge* magazine depicting a racial caricature stealing a toy from a white child named Johnny. The narrative frames a Black man ("the negro," in the text's language) as a criminal who waylay's the boy and steals his teddy bear toy. The "joke" or moral lesson relies on period racism: it presents a Black person as inherently criminal and dishonest. The story's resolution—the thief ending up in jail—was meant to be satisfying to contemporary readers, reinforcing stereotypes about Black criminality. By modern standards, this is overtly racist propaganda. The caricature, dehumanizing language, and criminal stereotype represent the casual bigotry embedded in early 20th-century popular media. The comic serves as a historical document of American racial attitudes rather than entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ie LITTLE JOHNNY AND THE TEDDY BEARS. A WICKED MAN WAYLAYS POOR TED. BUT SPENDS A NIGHT IN JAIL INSTEAD. 1, One Monday morn, in bright array, 2. He follows on all unaware, ‘Th ides hi forth to play. ‘The naughty man’s conceived & snare. The Teddy's little wooden or 7 So while his friends he quickly seeks, Is envied by a colored boy. ‘The negro soft behind him sneaks. ——¢— 3. He waits till John is out of sight, 4. Down the street at breakneck pace, ‘Chen snatches forth with all his might. pes names the cries ne cine the race. Despite poor Teddy's feeble cries, Be b ; ' ‘Takes bens and toy, and ewitly dies. The man’s too ewift, they 're left behind. 6. John snatches up his little pet, Who's all bedraggled now and wet Lhe cae fell | ‘The spattered cop comes up to hale And ended thos his © rh ‘The wicked robber off to jail. COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, FIFTH AVENUE AND MADISON SQUARE, NEW YORK. ed our supply. We which will be Because of the have on comicbooks.com