[Detail] The anarchist riot in Chicago
Historical Analysis and Interpretation
Advice to so-called American Socialists: "you had better not attack this club" / Th. Nast.
Explosion of the bomb at Haymarket Square Chicago, May 4, 1886.
The collection includes several images portraying the events and issues that were central to the Haymarket affair. Search on Morand for a series of paintings commissioned by Congress depicting the demonstrations at the McCormick Reaper Works on May 3 and at Haymarket Square on May 4. Search on Nast for a series of political cartoons published in Harper's Weekly. Search on engravings for other similar illustrations. Analyze some of these images and consider the following interpretive questions.
- To what extent do the Morand paintings provide an accurate account of the conflicts on May 1 and 4?
- Do these paintings reveal a particular point of view about the conflicts?
- What point of view does Thomas Nast communicate in his cartoons?
- How does Nast portray the Chicago police? How does he portray anarchists?
- How did other popular illustrations portray the people, events, and issues of Haymarket?
- What techniques do Nast and the other cartoonists use to convey their opinions about the Haymarket affair?
- How do paintings and cartoons help shape public sentiment toward a historical event?
- How would you expect these illustrations to have influenced public opinion about the bombing at Haymarket and the trial that followed?
