Worst valentines ever: Vintage racist valentines

[pokerfan]

Ah yes, the good ol' days the "right" wants to return to. An indication of how far we've come or how little?

February 6, 2012
PZ Myers

Valentine’s Day has always been a cheesy, awful little holiday. I remember the ‘parties’ in grade school — the ones where you were expected to give a cheap paper card to everyone, which made expressions of affection totally meaningless, and the way just neglecting to give one to the unpopular kids in class was a way to do a major snub. I learned all about the true meaning of passive aggressive on 14 February in second grade.

And sometimes, they were freakin’ racist. I remember the generic Native American caricatures in that linked post; I was swapping those cards in the 1960s, so I probably wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with portraying Native Americans as hatchet-wielding, pidgin-speaking, buckskin-wearing Caucasians, and the only thing that spares me from direct personal guilt is that I don’t think I would have bought valentines that didn’t have comic book superheroes on them (which was also kind of racist, too: they were all white, except for the one guy, who was emerald green.)

But this…this transcends awful. There was someone who once upon a time thought this was cute, and gave it to children.



Because lynching is adorable. Holy christ, but the United States is a screwed-up country with an ugly history.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/02/06/worst-valentines-ever/

The complete collection is here: http://open.salon.com/blog/miguela_holt_y_roybal/2012/02/02/vintage_racist_valentines

The blogger notes: The following cards are NOT a part of my collection because I only collect objects of beauty. They were found during my research for this post.

[Zalatix]

1. I am at a loss for words.

That's just insane. Utterly insane.

[pokerfan]

6. I almost didn't want to link it

because this board is frequented by RW lurkers and I'm betting they're getting a kick out of these cards and probably find them "funny" (based on the type of emails I tend to get from RW acquaintances.)

[Kalidurga]

2. Yikes

That is a truly frighting card. The sender would have to be really ugly inside to send that. It is horrible and I can see some poor kid crying upon receiving it, but it could be worse. Someone getting the card and being happy someone of a like mind has found them. Now I have to wonder if the Phelps klan sends homophobic cards to each other.

[madrchsod]

3. i have my mom`s cards from1915 to the mid 1920`s

none of her cards were anything close this this. she lived in far western iowa so i suppose cards like that never made out there.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Disgusting. Whenever you look into America's history, racism tends to rear its head.

Like Washington and Jefferson owning hundreds of slaves.

[onehandle]

5. Racism is over! Why are we talking about this?

Oh, right. The Tea Party.

Never mind.

[SidDithers]

7. K&R. Love PZ...nt

Sid

[Lunacee2012]

8. Holy shit!

It even looks like there's a real piece of string on that card!

[pokerfan]

9. That just gives it that little extra bit of "realism"

to think that some person actually tied the string around, granted, a cartoon character on each one of those cards, is more than a little disturbing.

[RZM]

10. Hardly surprising, given similar racist trends in advertising

I would pretty much put the valentines in that tradition:

http://www.oddee.com/item_96917.aspx

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/272699/

It's not at all just an American thing either. European colonial powers frequently caricatured colonized peoples in advertising. Here's an example from France. Note that according to this wikipedia article top right-image is current:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banania

And here's the infamous 'Darlie' toothpaste, which has been used since the 1930s in East and Southeast Asia. Originally it was called 'Darkie' because of the common stereotype that black people have very white teeth. You can see the way it used to be advertised at the link. It was acquired by Colgate-Palmolive in 1985 and they immediately retired the minstrel-show image and changed the name of the product to 'Darlie.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. omg!!! omg.

[Azathoth]

12. I believe those cards are still used when committing "suicide by valentine" nt

[nanabugg]

13. And you just had to post that here because...? nt

[RZM]

14. Not speaking for the OP

But this part of the history of valentine's day in this country. Should we not discuss or point out things because they are uncomfortable? I think we should discuss and point things out precisely because they are uncomfortable.

[ohheckyeah]

15. It's an informative article.

I've never seen those before.

[nanabugg]

16. and now that you have seen them? nt

[ohheckyeah]

18. Now I know.

Knowledge in and of itself is a good thing.

[pokerfan]

17. Um, because I thought it was interesting?

and a reminder of the "good old days" the right-wingers long for. You know, like I laid out in the OP.

[Goblinmonger]

19. I was literally

when I saw that card.

[SpartanDem]

20. I not surprised

hell people in this country took pictures the dead bodies people who had been lynched

[Mr Dixon]

21. SMH

Wow, people really missing the 1920's I C

[Blue_In_AK]

22. I'm kind of old,

and I seem to recall Valentines similar to those Indian ones, but nothing as blatant as the one you show in the OP. Wow.