This American valentine was published by Cincinnati-based greetings card company Barker in 1950. It represents an example of the 'cute picaninny', an enduring comic racial stereotype in popular culture which caricatured African American children (especially from the rural southern states). Typified by the character of Topsy in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (though the term was already in use), it persisted well into the 1960s when it was challenged by civil rights groups and the growing self-confidence of Black consumers. By the end of the decade the term was widely regarded as derogatory and offensive. More recently, a collectors' market has grown up in 'Black Americana' for nostalgic or ironic consumption or as material evidence in the study of Black history.