The Wasp — August 9, 1879 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Royal Hottentots" Analysis This is a theatrical burlesque satirizing British imperial attitudes toward African peoples. The script presents a mock-serious drama featuring "Black Hottentots" and "White Hottentots"—the latter being caricatured British colonizers portrayed as morally equivalent to those they colonize. The satire mocks British pretensions to superiority while stereotyping both groups through exaggerated dialect and behavior. References to "Hacklemack" (likely a caricatured African chief) and slave ships situate the critique within the colonial exploitation context. The accompanying illustrations show crude character types. The piece appears designed to ridicule both British imperial hubris and racist pseudoscientific claims about racial hierarchies—though the satire relies heavily on offensive stereotypes that were themselves typical of the era's casual racism.