Chopped Up Niggers: Puzzles to Put Together

Artist/Maker McLoughlin Brothers (American, 1854 – 1921)

Chopped Up Niggers: Puzzles to Put Together

ca. 1875

Place madeNew York, New York, United States, North America

Wood, cardboard, paper

Container (box): 1 7/8 × 8 3/4 × 10 5/8 in. (4.8 × 22.2 × 27 cm)

The Liman Collection

2000.389

McLoughlin Brothers introduced the blatantly sadistic jigsaw puzzle Chopped Up Niggers in 1874. Objects in the New-York Historical Society’s collections reflect the time in which they were produced. Although collection items that depict or reflect hate, racism, discrimination, or stereotypes may be offensive and disturbing, we continue to make them available to visitors for the historical insights they provide into the realities of daily life in New York and the nation.

Description"Chopped Up Niggers: Puzzles to Put Together" with sixteen paper covered cardboard picture puzzle pieces belonging to two different puzzles; paper covered wooden box chromolithographed with a caricature of an African American minstrel caricature ringing a bell dressed in a blue jacket and red and white striped pants and shirt with two other figures in the background; box cover lithographed with the inscription, "CHOPPED UP NIGGERS/ PUZZLES/ TO PUT/ TOGETHER/ McLOUGHLIN BROS. PUBLISHERS NEW-YORK".

ClassificationsTOYS

Collections