"Secret Service" Detective Stories (1899-1925)
Where US agents fight the (racially stereotyped) bad guys
Secret Service was a 32-page weekly magazine of detective stories featuring Old and Young King Brady, a world-renowned team of United States Secret Service agents.
With the help of Alice, their able office assistant, they tracked down criminals across the globe. Back in NYC, they busted Wall Street swindles and Chinatown opium rings.
They echo perceptions of race and conflict in turn-of-the-century America where Asian, Native American, or African American characters are often the chosen antagonists.
Secret Service is part of Stanford University Libraries' Dime Novel and Story Papers collection.
View Secret Service at the Stanford University Libraries' Dime Novel and Story Papers collection.
“Mystery of the Orange Menace?”
Important project. One would like to think that the racialization of COVID, rising anti-Asian sentiment and hate crimes are a Trumpian aberration, but seeing racial hatred depicted graphically, in color for a populist audience is a startling reminder of how deeply embedded socially-sanctioned racism is in American history and culture.