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15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valentine’s Day Cards

This collection of V-Day cards circa 1900 to 1930 or so will make you wish Valentine’s Day never existed. posted on January 25, 2013 at 1:58pm EST

Leonora Epstein BuzzFeed Staff posted about 3 months ago

I know, right? Now tell your friends!

15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valentine&#...

Leonora Epstein

In the early 1900s, racist imagery was widely used in consumer products—even Valentine’s Day cards—and relied on caricatures and stereotypes to create humor. Harvey Young, Jr., an Associate Professor at Northwestern gave a talk last year on racist V-Day ephemera and had this to say:

They capture in a material object the racial discourse occurring at the moment…You can really get a sense of how common and everyday and widely accepted these cards were. It gestures to this past moment when racism was more apparent in society.

1.

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Source: open.salon.com

2.

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Source: etsy.com

3.

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Source: etsy.com

4.

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Source: ebay.com

5.

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Source: open.salon.com

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Source: open.salon.com

7.

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Source: mabelikebabe.tumblr.com

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Source: copyranter.blogspot.com

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Source: etsy.com

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Source: thesocietypages.org

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Source: kitsch-slapped.com

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Source: thesocietypages.org

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Source: ebay.com

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Source: etsy.com

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Source: ebay.com

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kimberlyt9 3 months ago

I actually remember #14. In fact I may have given some of them out. *holds head in shame* It was the 70s.
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legibbo thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail & LOL about 3 months ago ×
31Lights thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF & OMG about 3 months ago ×
Nathansgirl thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
sobybunny thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
mushabon thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG about 3 months ago ×
Sublimetrip thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is LOL & WTF about 3 months ago ×
jeremyb10 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
Leslie M thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail about 3 months ago ×
huffingtonpost.com readers just made 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... hotter about 3 months ago ×
ashleyj7 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG about 3 months ago ×
dc141 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail & WTF about 3 months ago ×
Imindiemmy 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
metabolic thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Win about 3 months ago ×
Vkness thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF, Fail & OMG about 3 months ago ×
leeannd 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s Trashy & WTF about 3 months ago ×
veronical2 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s OMG about 3 months ago ×
PartyPoison723 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG & WTF about 3 months ago ×
paraxnoir 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
amy swiney thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Trashy & Ew about 3 months ago ×
giantsockmonkey thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
misfitDiva thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Trashy about 3 months ago ×
MicahLaRae thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
Zoey Adams 3 months ago

So…you’re basically posting these with faux outrage as an excuse to post racist images on here?
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- Cinnamon Broom a month ago
  
  BuzzFeed does it all the time with posts ostensibly about sexism, that are just thinly-veiled excuses to post a bunch of racy pics!
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CandaceCocoa thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail about 3 months ago ×
kiarenee112 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s WTF & LOL about 3 months ago ×
angelaensq thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
Liz K. 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s WTF & OMG about 3 months ago ×
kea718 3 months ago

Hmmm…. I feel like a lot of these could be lil Wayne lyrics… And no, I’m not joking in the least.
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lawgirl thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail, Ew & WTF about 3 months ago ×
jeremyb10 3 months ago

I did not mean to press the love button!
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- sharkfighter 3 months ago
  
  RACIST!!!!! jk.
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Leslie M 3 months ago

There are people who sell this stuff on etsy as collectibles, ridiculous
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stevenjosepho 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s OMG & WTF about 3 months ago ×
JMNHCKY thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG, LOL & Fail about 3 months ago ×
moegih thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG & WTF about 3 months ago ×
butterfli4201 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG, Fail & Cute about 3 months ago ×
Charlistar 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
lauraalemans thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
stormish thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is LOL about 3 months ago ×
Lily Baquera thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail & OMG about 3 months ago ×
Kyle Hayward thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Fail, WTF & OMG about 3 months ago ×
soniamaries thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Ew, WTF & Fail about 3 months ago ×
anarchisttiger 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s Fail & Ew about 3 months ago ×
creepypainting thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
pierfe85 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG & WTF about 3 months ago ×
moatesj thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG about 3 months ago ×
Jassy217 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
alyjaneb thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is LOL about 3 months ago ×
leahj thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
thecapedcrusader thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
exlibris00 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is WTF about 3 months ago ×
kameronj thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG about 3 months ago ×
mikeo12 3 months ago

I wonder if it’s possible to find stuff like this that is racist towards Americans?
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sarahf29 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is OMG about 3 months ago ×
mikeo12 3 months ago

I’m not very learned in history, but this whole entire stereotypical “black” speach thing had to start when someone kidnapped a fucking African or colored person from another continent, who could not speak the lanuages of their kidnappers, and not one person gave one fuck if they could or not, because that person was worthless to them. So over time the process was repeated, and Voila! The accent that was forced upon most of the colored population of the U.S. is now ridiculed and mocked every second of every day by people whose ancestors were not slaves! Will it ever get better?
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- Sailorzero a week ago
  
  Dude, the word “colored” is not ok to use in this instance. The more you know…
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denisematthessh 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... and thinks it’s Old & Fail about 3 months ago ×
brandonl9 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
jplasencia thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is LOL about 3 months ago ×
nicolealyssa25 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
mikeo12 3 months ago

These are the foundation of America!
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tommyw3 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... about 3 months ago ×
Maureen9196 3 months ago
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Trebor 3 months ago

I can’t find any of these at Hallmark :(
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mommom11 thinks 15 Unbelievably Racist Antique Valent... is Trashy about 3 months ago ×
Jassy217 3 months ago

Kudos, Buzzfeed. I’m glad you guys chose to publish this article. Some of them made me sick to my stomach, and all I can say is thank goodness I wasn’t around then. I get a kick from seeing how many people obviously ignore the article about racism and scroll down to comment on something ignorant and/or hilarious.
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mommom11 3 months ago

WTF -
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Dana Schneider 3 months ago

Oh dear God. As I was looking at these, my only thought was “Yep, that’s why there’s animosity towards the white race”. So terrible!
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- mommy 3 months ago
  
  Well, I would hope not. That’s a big old stereotype to lump every white person to blame.
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A.Leigh 3 months ago

#4 I don’t even know what it’s trying to say…I mean, I understand all the words individually, but I don’t get it.
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- msmcgee82 3 months ago
  
  I’ve been trying to figure it out, too…
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- fjfjfjffjfjfjfjjf 3 months ago
  
  it’s almost like trying to understand real black people
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- Jassy217 3 months ago
  
  ……trying to understand real black people? I’m trying really hard to understand why you would even say something like that, but I’m going to assume you’re trolling.
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- Leslie M 3 months ago
  
  You’re a moron.
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