Collection Highlights
The N. O. massacre
Date:
1866
Object Number:
LIB.SY.1866.43
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
The Funny Game of Hit or Miss
Object Number:
2000.386
Date:
ca. 1900
Medium:
Cardboard, paper, wood
Dimensions:
Overall: 1 x 7 3/8 x 7 3/8 in. ( 2.5 x 18.7 x 18.7 cm )
Marks:
lithographed: on the box cover: "The/ FUNNY/ Game/ of/ HIT OR MISS./ McLOUGHLIN BROS./ NEW YORK."
Description:
"The Funny Game of Hit or Miss" board game with 18 circular wooden counters, one large playing piece, one cardboard and wooden teetotem spinner and a lithographed paper board applied to the bottom half of the paper covered cardboard box; box cover lithographed with an African-American boy's head with a ball about to strike him; box cover inscribed, "The/ FUNNY/ Game/ of/ HIT OR MISS./ McLOUGHLIN BROS./ NEW YORK."; board chromomolithographed with a path of squares, twenty-five of which repeat the box cover graphics.
Gallery Label:
Target games found in traveling carnival shows, seashore resorts, and fairgrounds throughout the nation stereotyped African-Americans as comical entertainers and provided a sanctioned outlet for white contempt of blacks. Players of Hit or Miss, inspired by target games, move along a gameboard checkered with blank spaces and African-American faces, calling out "hit" or "miss" depending on the spin of the teetotum.
Bibliography:
Hofer, Margaret K. "The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board & Table Games." New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
Credit Line:
The Liman Collection
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
