- The cartoon displayed here is a wood-engraving that was published May 18, 1861 in Punch magazine, Britain’s satire magazine that began in 1841 up until 2002.
- The phrase “Am I a man and a brother?” comes from Josiah Wedgwood’s pottery firm; created in 1787, the phrase is part of the British abolitionist seal with a pleading slave in chains asking for freedom.
- Accompanied by the poem, “Gorilla of the Zoological Gardens”
- “Says Owen you can see, The brain of the Chimpanzee Is always exceedingly small, With the hindermost “horn” Of extremity shorn, And no “Hippocampus at all.”
Historical Context: What is Social Darwinism?
- Charles Darwin published his famous On the Origin of Species in 1859, proposing the theory of evolution, or a “one general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings.”
- Biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest being applied to sociology and politics
- Strong should have an increase in wealth and power
- Used to justify imperialism and racism while discouraging intervention and reform
- Imperial powers were naturally superior and control over other nations was in the best interest of human evolution
- During the 1860s, Britain had few colonies in Southern Africa as well as Sierra Leone. Its major colonies were next to the Boer’s independent free-state and whom the British would push against in the ‘Scramble for Africa’ and the Boer Wars in the 1870s-1902.
- British tendency to emphasize competition and overlook cooperation and altruism
The Hippocampus Question
- Most scientists had defined humans as unique mammals due to their brains and so the center of the evolution debate was what differentiates humans from primates if they were supposedly evolved from one another.
- Anatomist and paleontologist, Richard Owen argued that there was too great a difference between a human brain and a monkey brain for one to come from the other. However, Darwin’s greatest defender, biologist/anthropologist Thomas Huxley revealed the small fold in the posterior lobe aka the hippocampus minor is also found in the brains of primates and thus supported the theory of evolution.
- Scientists continued the study of brains and used the evidence of African Americans’ smaller craniums as proof of lesser intelligence or that they were less evolved and ‘needed’ British interference in Africa.
Passages from Jane Eyre: How is it Related to this Cartoon?
- “‘Fearful and ghastly to me - oh sir, I never saw a face like it! It was a discoloured face - it was a savage face. I wish I could forget… the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments!” (371).
- “What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight, tell… it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal… a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its face and head” (380).
- Jane describes Bertha with extremely racialized language - Brontë chooses to depict her as more of an animal than a human
- “‘I’ll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved—your harem inmates amongst the rest’” (410).
Discussion Questions
- What might St. John think of this cartoon?
- What biases does this cartoon convey?
- Why do you think the cartoonist chose the “Am I not a man and a brother?” quote? Why do you think he altered it?
- In what ways does this cartoon parallel the depiction of Bertha in Jane Eyre?
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