Darktown Trolley--Clar de Track When de Bell Rings

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 street scene with caricatured Black (African American) people. The blue-uniformed engineer rings the bell of the trolley headed from left to right; the trolley is labeled "DARKTOWN" on the front, and "DARKTOWN TO BLACKVILLE" on the sides of the three passengar cars, which are filled with passengers (visible in the windows). Near the trolley wheels are lines suggesting sparks to indicate a screeching stop, as a boy on a bicycle is about to cross the tracks in front of the trolley. At left, looking on with alarm at the impending danger to the boy, is a fancily-dressed older couple (the woman is wearing a pink dress with puffy white sleeves and a straw hat; the man, holding a cane, wears a blue jacket, gray pants and a white top hat). In front of them, a newsboy, his arms holding newspapers, runs toward the boy on the bicycle. Across the tracks is a standing couple (the woman is wearing an amazing winged hat); the man gestures toward the trolley. In the background, other town inhabitants are seen in the windows of two-story houses. At the far right, a man holding a hoe and a bucket stands on the road in front of bushes. At the top of the image, a dog dangles from a leash thrown over the electric wire that powers the trolley. The title and caption are 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.