Content note: A cartoon showing Uncle Sam watching an FBI agent lead a farmer toward cells, with a headline about the indictment of sugar planters for holding Negro laborers in peonage, as published. This object is shown as it was published. Why
"And while you're in there, find out something about a fellow named Abe Lincoln"
Uncle Sam stands with folded arms beside a barred cell door while an FBI agent takes a farmer in overalls and a battered hat toward the cells; a pasted headline reads 'U.S. indicts sugar planters for holding Negro laborers in peonage'. The tell is a news item turned into a one-line verdict through the caption's invocation of Lincoln, framing the prosecution as the nation's own wartime commitment.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Race and ethnicity, Labor, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives, RG 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks and Mockups (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-11 (NAID 535605).
Text on the object
U.S. INDICTS SUGAR PLANTERS FOR HOLDING NEGRO LABORERS IN PEONAGE.......NEWS ITEM. "AND WHILE YOU'RE IN THERE, FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT A FELLOW NAMED ABE LINCOLN" Alston
