Japanese Propaganda [Cover]
Name/Title
Japanese Propaganda [Cover]Description
C. Lee Wolf hand painted cover of a Japanese caricature stating ”Destroy This Menace”. Postmarked on February 4, 1945 in Blessing, Texas.Context
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), the United States government and public media began an all-out propaganda campaign targeting the Japanese. While some propaganda focused on the military differences between the two countries, most was designed with racism in mind. To evoke a sense of cultural superiority, American propagandists portrayed the Japanese as weak, feeble, and as animals. This cover, decorated by C. Lee Wolf, makes a purposeful attempt to portray the Japanese people with subhuman features - large teeth and a disfigured face, a move calculated to appeal to racist Americans. Keep in mind how racism affects how a war is waged and what kinds of consequences racist imagery would have had on the home front.Category
Texas Folk Art: One-Hundred Fifty Years of the Southwestern Tradition