McKenney and Hall, 1836-1844 - TUSTENNUGGEE EMATHLA, from History of the Indian Tribes of North America - ca. 1836 - T-Shirt

This hand-coloured lithograph presents a bust portrait of Tustennuggee Emathla, a Creek chief, as published in Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall's History of the Indian Tribes of North America around 1836.

Visual Elements & Composition

The cream ground fills roughly half the plate, leaving the figure to stand out against it. The chief wears a brick red turban with beaded fringe, a powder blue coat, and a red and green sash across his chest, with black and leaf green used sparingly for detail. The portrait sits within a rectangular plate framed around an oval vignette, a layout typical of the period's printed portraits. Lettering runs across the lower margin: TUSTENNUGGEE EMATHLA, OR JIM BOY, A CREEK CHIEF., and PUBLISHED BY F.W. GREENOUGH, PHILAD'A.

Meaning & Symbolism

McKenney, Superintendent of Indian Trade and later head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, commissioned likenesses like this one, mostly from the painter Charles Bird King, to record leaders who travelled to Washington, D.C. The series aimed to preserve an authentic record of these people before their ways of life changed. Tustennuggee Emathla's portrait belongs to that effort. His life overlapped with treaty negotiations and the forced removal of southeastern tribes, so the image functions as both a personal likeness and a document of a sovereign nation's leadership in a period of sharp upheaval. The dress, with its turban, sash, and coat, shows the sitter as a statesman rather than a generic subject.

Why It Works on a Tee

A tee carries a portrait across the chest, where it is seen at conversational distance and turns as the wearer moves. The bust format suits that placement: the face and upper body read clearly from a few feet away, and the lettering invites a closer look. The cream ground and the restrained palette of red, blue, and green keep the image crisp against the shirt, letting the historical detail hold the eye.