Card Illustrating Bret Harte's Poem, Plain Language from Truthful James
Card Illustrating Bret Harte's Poem, Plain Language from Truthful James
Previous
Next
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- In the 1870’s, white laborers considered the Chinese to be competition for jobs and sometimes responded with great hostility. Californians led the effort to prohibit further Chinese immigration, encouraging the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1871, Brett Harte wrote a poem, Plain Language from Truthful James, that rebuked a white card shark cheating a Chinese man. Intended to be a commentary on the prejudice against the Chinese, the poem was often misinterpreted as a condemnation of the Chinese.
- Object Name
- poem on card
- date made
- 1970
- 1870
- producer
- Harte, Bret
- place made
- United States: Illinois, Chicago
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 7 1/4 in x 5 1/2 in; 18.415 cm x 13.97 cm
- ID Number
- 2015.0281.07
- accession number
- 2015.0281
- catalog number
- 2015.0281.07
- Credit Line
- Gift of Nancy E. Davis
- subject
- Chinese Americans
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Exhibition
- Many Voices, One Nation
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
