Judge, 1921-11-05 · page 4 of 36
Judge — November 5, 1921 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page from *Judge* magazine contains a dark satirical illustration and accompanying racist dialogue mocking African American characters. The image depicts what appears to be a domestic scene with Black figures, while the caption uses heavy dialect and racial slurs typical of early 20th-century minstrelsy humor. The text sections "Out of Business" and "Precedent in Excelsis" reference fictional train porters named "Katie Porter" and "Frisco Porter," using caricatured speech patterns as the basis for jokes. The humor relies on racist stereotypes—portraying African Americans as illiterate, unreliable, and suitable only for servile work. This material reflects the deeply racist editorial standards of *Judge* during this era, when such dehumanizing content was considered acceptable magazine humor by white audiences.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Listen heah, you! Out of Business Said a would-be bohemian, “I think If I only had something to drink I could write such a book They would sit up and look,” So the poor devil swallowed the ink. Ah didn’t buy yo’ dat papah fo’ entahtainment! Precedent in Excelsis At Vinita, Oklahoma, where the “Katie” crosses the “Frisco,” two negro Pullman porters who worked for the different roads were in friendly argument. Katie Porter—Big black boy, you- 3 Jes’ confine yo’se’f to dem Want Ads, Niggah!” all must doan’ have nothin’ to do an dat ole road; doan’ hawl nobuddy. Frisco Porter—Doan’ hawl no- buddy, huh? G’wan, man! Dis road kills mo’ folks every yeah dan de “Katie” rides as passengers! Dat’s what. comicbooks.com