The Darktown fire brigade - Slightly demoralized. 'I know wed make em take water ! '

New York, Currier & Ives, 1889. Hand-coloured lithographed plate, mounted on board. Ca. 28 x 40 cm. Darktown comics series. - 'The late nineteenth-century Darktown prints by Currier & Ives depict racist stereotypes that are offensive and disturbing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves such works to shed light on their historical context and to enable the study and evaluation of racism. Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888), whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history' (Metropolitan Museum of Art). The depictions of Black firefighters, which consisted of 16 separate prints produced between 1884 and 1891 when many cities were appointing their first Black firefighters, were entitled The Darktown Fire Brigade and The Darktown Hook and Ladder Corps. The Black firefighters were depicted incompetent in their lifesaving task.