Crate Label, "Small Black Brand Zinfandel Grapes," circa 1940

Lithographers created colorful, eye-catching labels to help sell products. Designs often featured popular themes or motifs; some also reflected the prejudices of the time. This mid-20th-century label depicts a small black child with pronounced red lips -- a pernicious and persistent stereotype. These images dehumanized African Americans and affirmed the discriminatory biases many white Americans held.