Mike Lynch Cartoons: Happy Birthday, Thomas Nast

Monday, September 27, 2021

Happy Birthday to one of the most influential cartoonists of all time: Thomas Nast, born this day in 1840.

Smurfswacker said...: Like most of us, Thomas Nast left a complex legacy. His genuine sympathy for African Americans and Chinese Americans was unusual for his time. On the other hand he was vehemently anti-Catholic (the "River Ganges" cartoon warns about evil Catholic influence in schools) and was especially vicious toward the Irish. It was to acknowledge this that the Overseas Press Club removed Nast's name from their annual cartooning award.; 9:51 PM
Mike Lynch said...: Agreed! But the Catholic church was being given public money for its schools, something that Nast felt was wrong. Nast as a point there. And I always felt that when he emigrated to the US -- a short, German-speaking kid -- that he was bullied by the Irish kids in his neighborhood. Not an excuse for an anti-Irish attitude for the rest of his life, but I think that that is its origin.; 9:38 AM