Description:
N. T. Swezey (Noah Terry) (1814-1888) was a flour merchant in New York City. He ran a successful business for over forty years at 176 South St., and was one of the founders of the New York Produce Exchange. This collection contains a reproduction of a sign advertising Northwest Consolidated Milling Company flour. The sign depicts the figure of a black child standing behind and slightly below the figure of a white child. The white figure is sitting on a container of the Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company’s flour and is holding a slice of white bread. Both children have flour stains on their hands; the black child also has a white handprint on his cheek. Next to the children is an open flour sack. The text in the upper left hand corner reads: “Only Perfect Flour Makes Perfect Bread.” The text on the right reads: “N.T. Swezey’s Son & Co. Flour; 224 Produce Exchange, New York; Telephones, 63 Broad/971 . The sign measures 12.5 inches by 17 inches. Historically, the image of an African American child relies on racist stereotypes that were frequently depicted on advertisements, postcards, and other ephemera from about mid-nineteenth century into the early decades of the twentieth century. Date Range:
ca. 1980s Size of Collection:
2.5 ft
