The Darktown Fire Brigade - Hook and Ladder Gymnastics: Brace her up dar! and cotch her on de fly!

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A lithographic print titled, The Darktown Fire Brigade - Hook and Ladder Gymnastics: Brace her up dar! and cotch her on de fly!, from the "Darktown Comics" series by Currier & Ives. The color lithograph is printed on cream colored paper and depicts a caricatured fire brigade attempting to save burning house and its inhabitants. The nine (9) firemen are all wearing similar uniforms: black firemen's hats, red shirts, blue pants, and brown boots. On the left is a burning white, clapboard house. A woman wearing a white cap and white nightgown is standing behind a second-story window, leaning out with her arms extended upwards. She is looking toward a man in a nightgown, depicted in the top center of the image, clinging to the top of a ladder that is falling away from the burning building. A black cat is mid-air, appearing to have jumped from the window.

Explore Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture ↗