The Darktown Bicycle Race -- A Sudden Halt: "I knowd we'd have busted de record if it hadn't bin for dis misforchin."

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.

This print shows caricatured Black (African American) bicycle racers and bricklayers. In the foreground, the two leading bike racers (a Black man and a Black woman) have crashed into a big pile of sand set across the road. The man has his head punched through one of his pneumatic bike wheels, and his legs and feet are up in the air, while the woman (wearing a red vest over her red/yellow striped blouse and skirt) has landed face down on the sand beside her destroyed bike. Rounding the curve of the road in the left background are three more Black bike riders swerving out of control. In the background on the right half of the image is a brick building being constructed: at center, one Black workman climbs a ladder (with a load of mortar on his left shoulder), while above him, one workman sits on the scaffold laying bricks to heighten the wall. Standing on the ground between the building and the sand pile is a Black man (wearing a red shirt, blue pants, and a hat): he holds his load of mortar upright and scratches his head in amazement at sight of the bike accident. At the far right in front of a barrel labeled "LIME" and a shovel, a black cat jumps away. The title/caption is printed beneath image.


Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, marines, railroads, portraits, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. The firm operated until 1907.