Edmund Duffy

Edmund Duffy (March 1, 1899 – September 12, 1962), was an American editorial cartoonist. He grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, eventually moving to metropolitan areas. Duffy did not attend high school, but instead went into the Art Students League of New York. Duffy's career took him to London, Paris, New York, and finally to Baltimore, where he spent the majority of his professional career working for The Baltimore Sun.

Duffy won three Pulitzer Prizes for Editorial Cartooning in 1931, 1934, and 1940. Duffy began working for the Baltimore Sun in 1924, when he was only about 25 years old, and he received high praise from the famous journalist H.L. Mencken.

Journalism career

Duffy first came into the journalism field with his submission of a page of sketches for Armistice Day. The sketches were put into the New York Tribune in the Sunday section. Duffy drew numerous noteworthy cartoons, approaching major issues and incidents, such as lynching and the Ku Klux Klan, but also the famous Monkey Scopes Trial of 1925.

Denouncing racism through art Maryland, My Maryland!, a lithograph from ca. 1931, depicts the lynching of Matthew Williams.

Duffy was known for his daring nature in relation to his work. H.L. Mencken saw promise in his work and “Duffy with his sometimes savage artwork, did the kind of thing that delighted Mencken, who loved nothing more than to ‘stir up the animals’”. S.L. Harrison, a late professor of Communication at the University of Miami, wrote that Duffy “displayed uncommon vigor in attacking the Ku Klux Klan”.

“California Points with Pride!” (1934) This cartoon is one of Duffy's many anti-lynching pieces. This one, however, deals with white on white lynching. In California, people took two kidnappers from prison and lynched them in a park, but the Governor praised the people that did the lynching. Duffy condemned the Governor in this cartoon.

“The 'Outstretched Hand'” (1940) In this cartoon, Duffy's topic is Adolf Hitler and his brutality. By the time the cartoon was drawn, Germany had already invaded Poland, and Duffy shows Hitler's broken promises and peace offerings. Hitler's hand drips with blood in the image.