"Shall We Call Home Our Troops? We Intend to Beat the Negro in the Battle of Life & Defeat Means One Thing — Extermination," 1875

    In this 1875 image published in the Birmingham (Alabama) News and titled “Shall we call home our troops? "We intend to beat the negro in the battle of life & defeat means one thing--EXTERMINATION," a group of five Southern white men is shouting at and intimidating an African-American man who cowers behind a United States soldier who is calmly standing between the mob and African-American with his gun and bayonet pointed towards the ground.
    Courtesy of Library of Congress, "Shall we call home our troops? We intend to beat the negro in the battle of life & defeat means one thing — Extermination," 1875

    Description

    In this 1875 image published in the Birmingham (Alabama) News and titled, "Shall we call home our troops? We intend to beat the negro in the battle of life & defeat means one thing--EXTERMINATION," a group of five Southern white men is shouting at and intimidating an African-American man who cowers behind a United States soldier. The soldier is calmly standing between the mob and African American with his gun and bayonet pointed toward the ground. 

    Transcript of "Shall We Call Home Our Troops?" Political Cartoon

    Source-Dependent Questions

    • Whose perspective was this cartoon drawn from? What evidence leads you to believe this?
    • According to the artist, what was the threat to African Americans if federal troops were removed from the South?
    • How do the messages on the signs reflect attitudes of southern whites toward Reconstruction and African Americans? Have those attitudes about African Americans changed even though the war was lost? Why or why not?
    • How might these attitudes influence the creation of state governments and legislation once federal troops leave the South?

    Citation Information 

    "Shall we call home our troops? We intend to beat the negro in the battle of life & defeat means one thing — Extermination," Birmingham (Alabama) News, 1875. Courtesy of Library of Congress

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