"Have You Been to the Pump, Simpson?" 1837 - 1864

John Leech, a leading caricaturist in Victorian England, created this watercolor drawing on paper. The illustration depicts a man being confronted by a ghostly figure with the caption "Have You Been to the Pump, Simpson?". Victorian society was fascinated with spiritualism and the occult; however, this work taps into deeper cultural anxieties. The ghostly figure is rendered in blackface, a theatrical makeup used by performers to represent a caricature of a Black person. Blackface minstrelsy was popular in both the United States and Britain. This image exists in a context of entrenched racism and the dehumanization of Black people for entertainment. While seemingly innocuous, the drawing’s deployment of blackface is a painful reminder of the historical denigration of Black identity and the emotional toll of racist imagery. It serves not only as a reflection of Victorian attitudes but also as a stark reminder of the ongoing legacy of racial stereotypes.