Alfred McCoy’s Phil.

Cartoon: Political Caricature of

the American Era (1900-1941)
Philippine political cartoons gained full
expression during the American era. Filipino
artists recorded national attitudes toward the
coming of the Americans as well as the
changing mores and times. While the 377
cartoons compiled in this book speak for
themselves, historian Alfred McCoy’s extensive
research in Philippine and American archives
provides a comprehensive background not only
to the cartoons but to the turbulent period as
well. Artist-writer Alfredo Roces, who designed
the book, contributes an essay on Philippine
graphic satire of the period.

The Analysis of the Political Caricature of the

American Era
The transition from the Spanish Colonial
period to the American Occupation period
demonstrated different strands of changes and shifts
in culture, society, and politics. The Americans
drastically introduced democracy to the nascent
nation and the consequences were far from ideal.
Aside from this, it was also during the American
period that Filipinos were introduced to different
manifestations of modernity like healthcare, modern
transportation and media. This ushered in a more
open and freer press. The post-independence
and the post-Filipino-American period in the
Philippines were experienced differently by Filipinos
coming from different classes. The upper
Principalia class experienced economic
prosperity with the opening up of the Philippine
economy to the United States but the majority of the poor Filipino remained poor,
desperate, and victim of state repression.