Judge, 1918-08-24 · page 3 of 32
Judge — August 24, 1918 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This 1918 Judge cartoon uses racist caricatures and dialect to depict Black children in a narrative sequence. The six-panel comic follows children playing a game where they pretend to scare "Mammy" by disguising themselves as a ghost. The "joke" relies on period racist stereotypes: exaggerated facial features, African American Vernacular English ("Deed I would, honey"), and the premise that Black people are superstitious and fearful of ghosts. Panel 5's caption—"Dey ain't no sech thing as ghosts, chillin! Yo' musn't git scared!"—presents an older caregiver reassuring frightened children, reinforcing harmful stereotypes about Black communities. The satire targets no political issue; rather, it exemplifies the racist content mainstream American publications routinely published during this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| AUG 26 1918 CclBars2a9 Volume 75 J U D G E Number 1923 $5.00 a Year 10 Cents a Copy Entered at the fice at New York as fees Verne (ie # : Published Weekly by Leslie-Judie Compa: mail matter New York, Aucust 24, 1918 235 Pilth Avenue, New Vork City 1. “I done got dis ole squirt gun full ob whitewash, 2. “Uncle Mose, would you like ter be white?” Let's s’prise Uncle Mose!” “’Deed I would, honey—'deed I would!” 3. “Well, dar you is!” 4. “Let’s run ter Mammy and tell her we done see a ghost.” 5. “Dey ain’t no sech thing as ghosts, chillun! Yo’ mustn’t git scared!” Dravon by E. W. Kempe comicbooks.com