Content note: A racial caricature of a Japanese soldier holding a broken chain and a bloodied dagger, as published by the Office of War Information for the Black press. This object is shown as it was published. Why
The Savior of the Darker Races
A caricatured Japanese soldier in glasses and buck teeth, with a halo-like disc over his head, holds a broken chain in one hand and a bloodied dagger in the other, standing on ground labelled 'China' and 'Korea' (and Manchuria). The tell is name-calling by irony: the caption borrows Japan's own claim to liberate Asian peoples and the image contradicts it with violence and chains.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1942
- 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
- Diaspora or minority
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Race and ethnicity, Empire and colonialism
- 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, Record Group 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks (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-144 (NAID 535657).
Text on the object
"THE SAVIOR OF THE DARKER RACES" alston CHINA KOREA MANCHURIA AUG 22 1942
