African “in bad” club soon to be started!

In the first vignette, President Roosevelt holds his rifle as a lion runs away. An African man says, “Golly, dat was a bad shot, boss!” Roosevelt replies, “Liar!” In the second, two African men say, “Let us into your tent, boss, we’se most froze out here!” Roosevelt replies, “Milksops and mollycoddles!” In the third vignette, an African man says, “Dat’s a fine ump you shot, boss!” Roosevelt replies, “Nature fakir! It’s a ring tailed owk!” In the fourth vignette, an African king says, “Oogle ig uppy woof,” and an African man translates, “His majesty says he’ll have to charge you two bushels of beans to hunt in his country.” Roosevelt replies, “Tell him he is a sinister offender and a man with hard face and a soft body.” In the fifth, an African man says, “Say, boss, between ourselves, did you really write that letter to Harriman?” Roosevelt replies, “Muckraker! Shut up or I’ll beat you to a frazzle!” In the sixth, an African man says, “Boss I’se got to have more wages!” Roosevelt replies, “You’re an undesirable citizen and you’re fired!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Even with more than two months before he would retire from the presidency, many people — not least the corps of cartoonists — speculated on Theodore Roosevelt’s upcoming safari to Africa. It was not merely another aspect of the omnivore Roosevelt, nor the prospect of a very public man choosing to disappear from headlines for a year. The concept of almost any American save a few iconic explorers, plunging into what was then known (or unknown, literally) as the “Dark Continent” was something that attracted the attention, and inspired the imaginations, of an entire population.

This cartoon did not follow the pattern of many others — wild animals scattering in fright before the hunter Roosevelt — because its creator followed few patterns in his long career; he established patterns that others followed. Frederick Burr Opper was a fecund cartoonist whose work appeared between the late 1870s and the early 1930s.

Opper first drew for Leslie’s Weekly and Puck; and ended his career with William Randolph Hearst’s papers, but in between he illustrated books (children’s books, collections of political cartoons, and drawings for the work of Bill Nye, Marietta Holley, Eugene Field, Edward Eggleston, George V. Hobert, “Mr. Dooley,” and Mark Twain), produced widely syndicated and effective political cartoons, and created beloved comic-strip characters (Happy Hooligan; Maud the Mule; Alphonse and Gaston). His series of “Willie and His Papa” lampoons of President William McKinley and Roosevelt were widely popular, discontinued only upon the assassination of the former, and reportedly were favorites of Mrs. Roosevelt.

The cartoonist’s singular turn in this cartoon was to resist frightened animals in his comic forecast of the safari, and seek inspiration instead from recent words, actions, and controversies of the president. Juxtapositions in jungle settings, and showing Roosevelt’s growing frustrations, provided the clever humor. The new applications of Roosevelt’s famous phrases and imprecations mirrored the growing awareness of events displayed by Opper’s stereotypical natives. In the bottom tier, a native inquires about the president’s dispute with railroad baron Edward Henry Harriman, and Roosevelt’s response (“undesirable citizen”) is the phrase he used to criticize Harriman.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-12-15

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Page Count

1

Production Method

Printed

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation