42.22° n, 83.75° w
by Lara Zielin
campus
Satanic Abe Lincoln
William L. Clements Library, open now through February 18, 2013.
Long before Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was a book-
tary, dating back to the 1700s. The Clements Library holds a vast
turned-Hollywood-movie, there was Abraham Lincoln, the right
collection of American graphic satire, illustrating myriad social
arm of Lucifer himself. Or so thought Adalbert Johann Volck, a
issues in addition to slavery. “Bloomerism in Practice,” for ex-
German-born supporter of the Confederacy, who drew political
ample, depicts a house in disarray after suffrage-minded women
cartoons during the Civil War under the pseudonym V. Blada.
return from a rally (the artist is unknown). Victor Gillam’s color-
A dentist by trade, he secretly published a number of scathing,
ful illustration, “The reason why pauper immigration is not re-
Union-critical drawings. Here, he depicts Lincoln sitting on a
stricted,” shows a number of people benefitting from the arrival
chair, on the back of which is carved an ass’s head. As the devil
of an impoverished immigrant — from the steamship owner who
holds his inkwell, Lincoln writes the Emancipation Proclama-
pockets his fare, to the cheap labor contractor who profits from
tion. As celebrated as the Proclamation is today, it was nothing
the immigrant’s backbreaking work.
if not controversial at the time. The order was decried by many
Some of the images may be more than 100 years old, but the
to be a gross abuse of executive power, shown here by Lincoln
themes they explore — from women’s rights to immigration
trampling the Constitution with his foot.
to how much power the president should have — are certainly
This image is part of the Proclaiming Emancipation exhibit at the 40
Cartoons have long been popular mediums for social commen-
LSA Magazine / Fall 2012
evergreen. n illuStration William L. Clements Library