Mechanical toy in the form of a caricatured boy in a mule led racing cart: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A cast iron, mechanical toy in the form of a caricatured boy in a mule led racing cart. The boy’s face and hands are painted black. He has wide eyes and wide, opened mouth with white teeth displayed. He is wearing blue pants with white knee patches, black shoes, a yellow jacket, and a light blue bowtie. The boy is also wearing a red, white, and blue baseball cap. The boy is holding a whip in his proper right hand and is holding his proper left hand up with his elbow bent. The cart has two (2) red wheels and a yellow and red carriage. The mule is brown and has a red and black harness. There is a red loop at mule's mouth and a wheel between mule's two front legs. When the toy is pulled, the boy’s arms move.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1895
• Created by: Unidentified
• Type: mechanical toys
• Medium: cast iron and paint
• Dimensions: 5 1/4 x 3 3/8 x 8 7/8 in. (13.3 x 8.6 x 22.5 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2007.7.287
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Collection of James M. Caselli and Jonathan Mark Scharer
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.