Life — September 18, 1902 — page 15: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts the biblical Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon. The caption presents their exchange as a "proverb" about global ignorance. The Queen remarks that reports of Solomon's glory were exaggerated—she wasn't told the half of it. Solomon responds with a twist on the famous saying "one half the world knows not how the other half lives," applying it to Africa specifically. **The satire:** This appears to criticize Western (particularly American) ignorance about Africa and African life. By invoking the biblical Queen of Sheba (associated with African wealth and sophistication), the cartoon sardonically suggests that the Western world remains willfully ignorant about African realities—a commentary on colonial-era attitudes and the limits of Western knowledge about non-Western peoples. The ornate, orientalist artistic style reinforces the exoticism with which Africa was typically depicted in early 20th-century American media.