Political Cartoon: The Masquerade Ball

Freedmen's Bureau Act & The Freedmen's Bureau

Political Cartoon: The Masquerade Ball

04/14/1866

Political Cartoon

The Smithsonian Institution presents an 1866 political cartoon, drawn by Thomas Nast, called the "Grand Ball Masquerade." The cartoon presents caricatures of various prominent political figures during Reconstruction. Of note is the illustration of President Andrew Johnson (left, center) kicking a bedroom bureau with tiny, black people-like figures falling out of its drawers. "Freedmen" is inscribed on the front of the bureau. The label at the top of the building reads "THE VETO." 

The Freedmen's Bureau was a federal agency created to provide aid to displaced Southerners, including newly freed people, during and after the Civil War. 

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Smithsonian Institution

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