Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Exhibit Highlights Cartoonists' Focus on First Amendment
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
May 28, 2019

Share

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The First Amendment right to free speech is no laughing matter, as illustrated by a new exhibit at the world’s largest cartoon library.

“We focused on editorial cartoonists and the First Amendment partly because American editorial cartoonists are the only ones in the world whose work is protected by an amendment to the federal constitution of the country.” Lucy Caswell, museum founder

The political cartooning display runs the gamut from a 1774 etching by Paul Revere criticizing Britain’s use of tea as a political weapon to a 2018 cartoon lampooning the blocking of online conservative commentary.

Other cartoons take on political correctness, flag desecration, fake news, campus conduct codes, and the role of Twitter in public discourse.

The exhibit combines drawings contributed by several dozen cartoonists with material from the library’s own collection. Many are from newspapers, but offerings include cartoons from The New Yorker magazine and even ones that first appeared online, on websites such as Politico.

“We focused on editorial cartoonists and the First Amendment partly because American editorial cartoonists are the only ones in the world whose work is protected by an amendment to the federal constitution of the country,” said museum founder Lucy Caswell, who co-curated the exhibit with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes.

Among Cartoons on Display:

— “Get up Kaepernick!! Men died for your right to stand!” protesters shout at former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, highlighting his decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice, in a 2016 cartoon by Ed Hall for Artizans Syndicate. “Actually, we died for his right to sit or stand,” say two soldiers observing the scene in Hall’s drawing.

— Angelo Lopez sums up the trend of people walling themselves off from alternative viewpoints in a 2017 cartoon that appeared on the site Cartoon Movement, in which a bound and gagged Uncle Sam listens as protesters shout, “My opinions only!” and “Free speech for those I agree with!”

— A 1989 Baltimore Sun cartoon by Kevin Kallaugher featuring a superhero decked out in American flag-themed clothing from head to toe. “I can’t just sit around and watch a bunch of amateurs desecrate the flag!” he says.

From About 150 Editorial Cartoonists 20 Years Ago to 40 Today

President Donald Trump’s scorn for traditional media inspired several Trump-related cartoons at the exhibit. Those include a 2017 drawing by Jimmy Margulies of King Features Syndicate that portrays the iconic Twitter bird logo with a Trump hairstyle, sitting in a birdcage lined with newspapers.

Margulies said in an email that it’s a challenge not to draw about the president every day, “though he probably does or says several things each day that are worthy of a cartoon.”

Telnaes noted that editorial cartoons have been an integral part of American political discourse for more than 250 years, since “Join, or Die” appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Worldwide, they’re an indicator of a nation’s freedom of expression.

“If there aren’t cartoonists creating tough, pointed satire against their politicians and policies, you can bet that country and its government doesn’t tolerate an individual’s right to free speech,” Telnaes said in an email.

In a 1971 cartoon by Karl Hubenthal in the now defunct-Los Angeles Examiner, a smug Supreme Court justice examines the decision upholding the printing of the Pentagon Papers. Far below, a woman tugs at his robe and questions “the moral question” of printing stolen government documents.

The headline: “Totally ignored.”

The inclusion of a cartoon from a long-gone paper underscores one of the biggest challenges for cartoonists: the decline of print newspapers and the elimination of many full-time cartooning jobs.

Twenty years ago, the country had about 150 full-time editorial cartoonists, according to Telnaes. Today it’s down to about 40.

Tough for Cartoonists to Make a Living

Just last week, longtime Columbus Dispatch editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler lost his job amid a series of nationwide layoffs by GateHouse Media. Beeler has a cartoon in the Ohio State exhibit that satirizes campus free speech “safe spaces.”

Concluding a series of Friday tweets about his layoff, Beeler said, “Lastly, my heart goes out to the other cartoonists and journalists across the nation caught up in these layoffs. It’s a devastating trend in the news business.”

“From the viewpoint of history, it is clear that our political discourse would have been considerably poorer without them.” — Justice William Rehnquist

While the digital age has created new opportunities, it’s still tough for cartoonists to make a living, Telnaes said. Meanwhile, social media has been both a blessing and a curse.

“Social media is both positive in that readers are more engaged and appreciative of cartoons but also enables special interest groups to target cartoonists and their publications when a cartoon challenges their beliefs and agenda,” she said.

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld political cartoons as protected speech in a case involving a Hustler Magazine parody ad that lampooned the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, an ad that’s on display at the Ohio State exhibit.

Writing the court’s unanimous decision, Justice William Rehnquist noted that cartoonists have portrayed public figures through the ages in a manner unavailable to a photographer or portrait artist, sketching Abraham Lincoln’s “tall, gangling posture, Teddy Roosevelt’s glasses and teeth, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s jutting jaw and cigarette holder.”

“From the viewpoint of history, it is clear that our political discourse would have been considerably poorer without them,” Rehnquist wrote.

“Front Line: Editorial Cartoonists and the First Amendment” runs through October at Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

DON'T MISS

Huge Power Outage Paralyses Parts of Spain and Portugal

DON'T MISS

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

DON'T MISS

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

DON'T MISS

Timberwolves Push Lakers to Edge of Elimination With Comeback Win

DON'T MISS

Dodgers Overcome Early Deficit for Victory Over the Pirates

DON'T MISS

Suspected US Airstrike Hits Yemen Migrant Centre; Houthi TV Says 68 Killed

DON'T MISS

Norway Establishes Diplomatic Relations With State of Palestine

DON'T MISS

Kim Kardashian Jewel Heist Trial Starts in Paris

DON'T MISS

NBA Playoff Guide: Who Plays When, How to Watch, What the Odds Are

UP NEXT

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

UP NEXT

Fresno Ranks Fourth in US for an Affordable Night Out

UP NEXT

Top Producer at ’60 Minutes’ Quits Amid Trump Lawsuit Pressure

UP NEXT

Is a ‘Friend-Apist’ What We Really Want From Therapy?

UP NEXT

Universal Studios Fan Fest 2025 to Feature Immersive D&D Attraction and More

UP NEXT

Americans Haven’t Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion

UP NEXT

Thousands of Pilgrims Trek Through New Mexico Desert to Historic Adobe Church for Good Friday

UP NEXT

Katy Perry Gears Up for Sci-Fi Inspired World Tour

UP NEXT

Easter Desserts Anyone Can Make

UP NEXT

How Trump Might Unwittingly Cut Emissions From Online Shopping

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

33 minutes ago

Timberwolves Push Lakers to Edge of Elimination With Comeback Win

39 minutes ago

Dodgers Overcome Early Deficit for Victory Over the Pirates

44 minutes ago

Suspected US Airstrike Hits Yemen Migrant Centre; Houthi TV Says 68 Killed

47 minutes ago

Norway Establishes Diplomatic Relations With State of Palestine

55 minutes ago

Kim Kardashian Jewel Heist Trial Starts in Paris

1 hour ago

NBA Playoff Guide: Who Plays When, How to Watch, What the Odds Are

1 hour ago

Fresno Man Ejected, Killed in High-Speed Wreck Following Pursuit

1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Naomi Kaylynn Acker

2 hours ago

Conclave to Elect a New Pope Will Start on May 7 as Cardinals Get to Know One Another

2 hours ago

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

A Madera man was arrested Sunday after police say he robbed a business near the 300 block of W. Olive Avenue, the Madera Police Department s...

7 minutes ago

Madera police arrested Huber Silva, 32, of Madera, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, on felony robbery and drug charges Sunday after he was located near E. Dunham Avenue with the help of a witness and K-9 Goose. (Madera PD)
7 minutes ago

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - April 28, 2025 People use their cell phone's flashlight in a dark sports shop after the matches get suspended due to a power outage (REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura)
21 minutes ago

Huge Power Outage Paralyses Parts of Spain and Portugal

Protesters, predominantly supporters of the Houthi movement, hold up their weapons as they rally to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians, vowing that U.S. airstrikes would not deter their support, in Sanaa, Yemen April 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)
27 minutes ago

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

Damage in a parking lot struck in a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, April 14, 2025. The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had ordered a three-day cease-fire in Ukraine next month, the second time in two weeks that Russia’s leader has promised a temporary pause in the fighting as President Trump shows growing impatience with his refusal to stop the war. (Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
33 minutes ago

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

39 minutes ago

Timberwolves Push Lakers to Edge of Elimination With Comeback Win

44 minutes ago

Dodgers Overcome Early Deficit for Victory Over the Pirates

Injured African migrants lie on hospital beds after a strike hit a detention centre hosting African migrants, in Saada, Yemen April 28, 2025. (REUTERS/Naif Rahma)
47 minutes ago

Suspected US Airstrike Hits Yemen Migrant Centre; Houthi TV Says 68 Killed

Norway officially established diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine on Thursday, April 24, 2025, strengthening its support for Palestinian independence amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. (Shutterstock)
55 minutes ago

Norway Establishes Diplomatic Relations With State of Palestine

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend