1884 Racist Ivory Soap Ad ~ Native Americans, Reclaimed

Original antique print advertisement for Ivory Soap. Scarce racist ad proclaims that Ivory Soap made Native Americans "civilized." Verse reads as follows:

We once were factious, fierce and wild,
To peaceful arts unreconciled;
Our blankets smeared with grease and stains
From buffalo meat and settlers' veins.
Through summer's dust and heat content,
From moon to moon unwashed we went;
But Ivory Soap came like a ray
Of light across our darkened way.

And now we're civil, kind and good
And keep the laws as people should.
We wear our linen, lawn and lace,
As well as folks with paler face.
And now I take, where'er we go,
This cake of Ivory Soap to show
What civilized my squaw and me
And made us clean and fair to see.

This ad was the inside back cover of the magazine and is printed on brownish yellow stock.

Publication Year: 1884

Approximate Ad Size (in inches): 6½ x 9¼

Condition: The area that contains the image and text, for the most part, is in good to very good condition. The page has some small rips at the edges. There is a small piece of white paper that is glued to the left edge (outside the border), and the right lower corner is clipped just slightly.