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Year Created: 1899
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“School Begins” is a 1899 political cartoon by Louis Dalrymple, published in Puck magazine, that satirizes American imperialism following the Spanish–American War. It depicts Uncle Sam as a schoolteacher instructing a group of sullen new students, labeled Philippines, Cuba, Porto Rico, and Hawaii, representing the territories recently acquired by the United States. Behind him, a blackboard displays a justification for colonial rule, suggesting that the U.S. must govern its new possessions “with or without their consent until they can govern themselves.” Older students labeled California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Alaska sit quietly in the back, symbolizing previous U.S. expansions. Meanwhile, a Native American boy reads a book upside-down, an African American child washes a window, and a Chinese boy peers in through the door, highlighting the racial and cultural hierarchies and exclusions of the era.
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