"Democracy in action!!" (Booker T. Washington Liberty ship)
A pencil cartoon shows the bow of a ship lettered 'Booker T. Washington' with a uniformed Black captain on the bow, an American flag behind, and two workers in caps cheering in the foreground. The caption 'Democracy in action' is a virtue phrase attached to the ship and its crew. The tell is glittering generalities: the slogan stands in for a testable claim about integration or opportunity.
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
- War and the military, Race and ethnicity, Labor
- 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 and Records Administration, RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons (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-188 (NAID 535671).
Text on the object
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!! Alston
