Content note: Ethnic slur ('Jap') in the slogan; the Japanese enemy is drawn as a rat. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Alaska - Death-Trap for the Jap
A grey rat in a red cap bearing the rising-sun emblem creeps toward a mousetrap labelled 'Army Navy Civilian' laid over a map of Alaska, under the line 'Alaska, Death-Trap for the Jap'. The enemy is drawn as vermin and named with the slur, so the label, not any evidence, tells the viewer what the 'trap' is for.
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- WPA Art Project poster for the Thirteenth Naval District, U.S. Navy (artist signed Grigware)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (POS - WPA - WASH .G76, no. 1), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work: WPA Federal Art Project poster for the U.S. Navy)
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (digital id cph.3b48885). Library of Congress rights statement: 'No known restrictions on publication.'
Text on the object
ALASKA DEATH-TRAP FOR THE JAP ARMY CIVILIAN NAVY THIRTEENTH NAVAL DISTRICT • UNITED STATES NAVY WPA 26
'ARMY', 'CIVILIAN' and 'NAVY' are lettered on the mousetrap. 'WPA' appears faintly at lower left and the number '26' at lower right in the margin. The artist's signature at right ('Grigware') is in the illustration.
