The Darktown Tally Ho--Tangled Up

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 a stagecoach with caricatured Black (African American) passengers. At left, a team of four donkeys-- hitched to the stagecoach-- rear and kick, thereby tangling up the reins held by the coach driver (center). Seated on top of the coach, six passengers (three couples in their best attire, including fancy hats) are open-mouthed with amazement at the sight of the misbehaving donkeys; another man (wearing a black top hat) pokes his head out of the window to see what is happening. At right, a coachman (wearing a blue jacket, pink pants, and a black hat) stands at the rear of the coach and blows a trumpet (which may have startled the donkeys, thereby causing the commotion). The yellow-and-red stagecoach cab bears a plaque with the name "TALY HOE." In the left background, trees are at the far side of a field. The print's title is imprinted in the bottom margin.


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. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law, was made a business partner. Subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued via their successors until 1907. The artist of this print is Thomas Worth, a prolific nineteenth-century illustrator who excelled at drawing horses and other subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives; he also drew many of the Darktown images.