Throughout its history, the United States has experienced periods of intolerance—sometimes violent—toward newcomers, usually instigated by fear and resentment during times of economic depression and war. The Order of United American Mechanics (OUAM) was an anti-Catholic and Nativist secret society that was organized in Philadelphia in 1845, anticipating the rise of the American Know Nothing Party. It was born as a growing number of Catholic Irish, Italian, French, and German immigrants were entering the city in increasing numbers through the port of Philadelphia. The new arrivals were viewed as direct threats to the scarcity of labor opportunities available to native-born Americans. The organization was founded on principles of promoting "American-labor" and the purchase of goods and services from only native-born Americans. In its structure, the OUAM was modeled after the Freemasons; its logo of an arm and hammer held in a fist within a square and compass was a play on the Masonic device. As did other fraternal organizations, the society offered funeral and sick benefits to its members, which was paid for through membership and subscription. The OUAM soon developed a body of rituals for its members, loosely based on older fraternal organizations. Teaching charts were an accepted part of the paraphernalia of fraternal organizations, providing a visual means of transmitting the society’s beliefs, symbols, and rituals to new members and reinforcing the same for its established members. This is one a of series of such screens or charts illustrating American workers and painted in Philadelphia by Clark Vernal Eastlack Jr., an ornamental painter on North 2nd Street, located not far from the site of the original meeting place of the organization. Eastlack was a second-generation painter and a member of the OUAM. His death in 1871 at age thirty-six may have been sudden, as he is still listed in the city directory for that year. Eastlack’s family received funeral benefits from the OUAM, whose members were invited to the funeral, as well as the state and national councils. He also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Meridian Sun Lodge No. 471, and was a volunteer fire fighter with the Independence Hose Company. Eastlack’s older brother Francis composed "The Great Know-Nothing Song, I Don’t Know," which was published at the height of Know Nothing influence and distributed at Philadelphia booksellers.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Screen for the Order of United American Mechanics, 1860–1871" exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020.