[CARTOGRAPHIC RACISM]. [AMOS 'N ANDY]. Eagle's-Eye View of Weber City (Inc.)

Chicago: Gwindell Printing Co. for Pepsodent, 1935. Good. Together 3 items: large folding map (38.5 x 50 cm) folded three times as issued (EXCELLENT condition); accompanied by original printed letter (designed to look "handwritten") in Ebonics (a little smudged, otherwise GOOD); with the original mailing envelop with the faces of Amos and Andy on the front (FAIR condition only: soiled and stained, back flap torn, last name and address of the addressee cancelled in ink). Offensive fictional map of the town where Amos and Andy reputedly resided, with streets, buildings, and houses from the show identified. The text is written in Ebonics and is filled with (truncated) misspellings and backwards letters.

"Amos 'n Andy" was a wildly popular American radio sitcom about two black characters, written and voiced by two white actors. The show was overtly rascist, playing into stereotypes of simple-minded, clownish, and lazy African-Americans. The show was sponsored by Pepsodent until 1938. The importance of Pepsodent's "Amos 'n Andy" campaign in American social history has been explored by Ben Medeiros in "Restoring Whiteness, Sanitizing Blackness, and Authenticating Modern Artifice: Pepsodent Toothpaste and the Visual Branding of Amos 'n' Andy" (Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, 2018).

The map perpetuates the bespoke racisict characterizations, with the cartoonish residents looking like buffoonish ants. It is accompanied by the original printed "handwritten" letter of solicitation, likewise written in Ebonics (included also is the original mailing envelope with Amos and Andy in blackface makeup). (Inventory #: 3788)