Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction, and How it Works

This image was published in Harper's Weekly Illustrated Newspaper, on September 1, 1866. The image depicts President Andrew Johnson as Shakespearean character Iago, here manipulating an African American Civil War veteran representing Othello. The surrounding vignettes and leaflets reference Johnson's policy of leniency towards former Confederates and allowance of violent retribution levied against black communities by white vigilantes in Memphis and New Orleans.