This paper examines the portrayal of blacks, Asians, and native Americans in Fourth of July political cartoons from the 1870's to the 1970's in five American newspapers--the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Washington Post, and the Columbus Dispatch. Images of these racial and ethnic groups were compared with images of women over the same period. Specific purposes were to determine the frequency of images of racial minorities and caucasians and to identify various aspects of minorities images such as dominance, appearance, and role. Of a total of 577 political cartoons, 378 had specific July Fourth themes. Of these, 354 portrayed women and 24 portrayed racial minorities. Fourth of July cartoons were selected for study because they are one of the few cultural artifacts that have been around for 100 years and because they often reflected the "U.S. as melting pot" rhetoric which might be expected to portray American cultural realities at different time periods. Findings indicated that, in general, cartoons excluded racial minorities except during specific time periods when a particular group was often discussed in the news (for example, the case of the blacks during the 1960's as a result of civil rights activism). When minority groups were represented, however, the depiction of all subjects changed from near caricature in early decades to greater directness and simplicity in later years. In spite of this progress, however, few racial minorities were shown in roles challenging the establishment. Also, minorities were seldom portrayed as equal to Caucasians. Of the groups studied, native Americans were pictured as least assimilated and women and blacks as most assimilated. (DB)