Political Satire In Clifford H. Baldowski's Baldy

1351 Words3 Pages

Georgia reached its height of racial controversy during the Civil Rights Movement. Like most other southern states, Georgia embodied an attitude of white supremacy which in effect, contributed to the countless acts of unjust treatment blacks endured. Cartoonist, Clifford H. Baldowski depicts the discrimination blacks suffered through his sketch, "Naw! It’s force legislation an ' I hate force!" published in Georgia 's newspapers in 1963. The cartoon is an image of a white man throwing a black man out of the restaurant. Clifford Baldowski, commonly named "Baldy", uses humor, exaggeration, irony, and ridicule to transform the historical illustration into a political satire ("Satire - Examples and Definition of Satire"). Furthermore, the use …show more content…

Featured in the upper right hand side of the sketch are several tables of white females and males dining. Humor can be found in the depictions of every white character. The first table shows a man and women sitting together drinking beverages in small, fancy cups. The man in this image is talking while pointing at the newspaper referencing to the Rights Bill. Both he and the woman next to him have raised eyebrows and tight, closed lips. If both faces were to have a title, the title would shout "white supremacy". Sketched above, is another character Baldy manipulated to enhance whites ' pretentious attitudes. This time there is a single man dining alone at a table. His face is practically identical in expression to both the man and women at the other table. Collectively, all the customers are large in appearance and narcissistic in attitude. To audiences, the whites’ presentation is humorous and unrealistic. Baldy deliberately designs the white society in a consistent, unfavorable fashion in an effort to mock white societies appearance. Beneath the simple pen marks on newsprint paper, lies a much deeper symbolic meaning. Baldy cares. Baldy cares about injustice, American rights, and the future direction of our country. He demonstrates this through decision to incorporate

Open Document