Judge — April 30, 1927 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes a civics exam or voter qualification test. A stern examiner (labeled "Coolidge," likely President Calvin Coolidge) sits as judge while a nervous test-taker faces seven questions on a blackboard—geographic, governmental, and biographical trivia about Nicaragua, Mexico, alcohol prohibition, and contemporary political figures. The satire targets voter literacy tests, which were used to disenfranchise voters, particularly in the South. By depicting absurd, obscure questions (like identifying obscure politicians), the cartoon mocks how such tests functioned as gatekeeping mechanisms. The "ASK ME ANOTHER!" caption emphasizes the arbitrary, impossible nature of these requirements. The cartoon criticizes both the practice of literacy tests and, likely, Coolidge's administration's policies during Prohibition era politics.