Trade Card for Sapolio Soap, Enoch Morgan's Sons, 1870-1890

Late-nineteenth-century manufacturers used trade cards to promote and sell products. These advertisements also reflected the racial prejudices of the time. Card illustrators typically depicted African Americans, as well as other ethnic or religious groups, in an insulting and demeaning fashion. These depictions affirmed the discriminatory biases that many white Americans -- consumers of these cards -- held.