Puck — April 16, 1879 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes the "Exodus" of African Americans from the South to Kansas during 1879. The title references the Biblical exodus, comparing the mass migration to slaves fleeing Egypt. The scene shows what appears to be a Black emigration agent (center, with net and materials) recruiting Southern African Americans to relocate northward. The figure labeled "Sambo" sits left, while potential migrants gather right with their belongings. The caption "Now, boss, how you like it yourself?" suggests irony: the agent is using persuasive tactics similar to those slavers once employed, now toward freedom rather than bondage. The cartoon critiques both the desperation driving Black migration and the opportunistic recruitment methods—presenting emigration as exploitative despite its liberatory goal. The satire mocks how methods of coercion persist even in nominally progressive contexts.