No Dinner? , 1900
20 x 16 in (h x w)

This trading card or printed advertisement depicts an African American woman, dressed in stereotype mammie esc garb, who is angry when her husband, a sambo esc figure, does not buy her the Rising Sun Stove Polish. However, after the man buys her the correct stove polish, she welcomes her husband home and feeds him dinner. Not only does this ad reflect racist visual stereotypes, but it also reflects a verbal stereotype of the time, where black people were expected to speak in an uneducated and informal manner. When compared to depictions of white people at the time, ads like this perpetuate perceptions of othering.

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