Content note: A robed allegorical figure labelled 'The Negro Press' holds a torch and points to 'Justice' beside a rock marked 'Intolerance' and 'Persecution', as published in a 1943 Office of War Information cartoon. This object is shown as it was published. Why
!["The Guiding Light" [The Negro Press, 1827-1944], 1943 US cartoon: A robed figure with a torch and a sash reading 'The Negro](../images/owi-alston-the-guiding-light-negro-press-1943.jpg)
"The Guiding Light" [The Negro Press, 1827-1944]
A robed figure with a torch and a sash reading 'The Negro Press' points toward the word 'Justice', beside a rock marked 'Intolerance' and 'Persecution', under the dates 1827-1944. The tell is transfer and glittering generalities: a Statue-of-Liberty-style classical figure lends civic prestige to the press, and the virtue words stand in for specific claims.
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, Media and information
- 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 (NARA), RG 208, Cartoons Promoting the War Effort (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-88 (NAID 535630).
Text on the object
1827~1944 THE NEGRO PRESS JUSTICE INTOLERANCE PERSECUTION "THE GUIDING LIGHT" Alston OWI
