From Poker Flat. George Gatacombe. Source: Fun 57-58 (1 March 1893): 90. Click on image to enlarge it. The title “Poker Flat” alludes to Bret Harte’s short story, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” (1869), and it imemdiately characterizes this beautiful, wealthy young woman as someone who comes from the American South — not a woman from the ante bellum South but — this is the 1890’s after all — one of those nouveau riche heiresses familiar from Victorian novels who try to climb the social ladder by purchasing a noble title with marriage to an impoverished Briton.
Her vulgar misunderstanding of “Emancipated Women” immediately changes this cartoon from one concerning the New Woman to a criticism of American racism. The British certainly referred to other races — South Asians as well as Africans this way — but the vulgarity of “you 'llowed” makes clear that the speaker is an object of criticism. Such an essentially political point runs throughout this periodical’s full-page editorial cartoons, but is rare in the Punch-style cartoons of the wealthy and elegant, in which the satire is generally gentle and aimed at foibles.
What does the young man’s expression indicate? Is he nervous, shocked, embarrassed? What does the nasty young woman’s name imply? “Vanderclam” sounds Dutch, which might place the young woman in New York State, and "clam" sounds like New England — the clam digger is a figure who in local humor represents people who live in my home state, Rhode Island. Or, more likely, does “clam” simply refer to the slang term for money? Pinpointing humor and jokes in century-old materials always presents a problem, in part because we don’t know the cartoonist’s knowledge of specific associations, but one thing is clear: an American here is satirized for combining, ignorance, vulgarity, and prejudice. — George P. Landow
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Last modified 3 February 2016