Chapter 10

Graphs as Poetry

Synopsis

Graphs are justly celebrated for their ability to accurately present phenomena in a compact way while simultaneously provide their context. If this were all that they did, their place in scientific history would be secure. But with suitable data and the right design, they can also convey emotion. Indeed, in some instances graphs provide an emotional impact that can be likened to that of poetry.

In this chapter we imagine a collaboration between the civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois and the canonized graphic designer C. J. Minard to show The Great Migration of six million African-Americans fleeing the racism and terror in the post-Confederacy South to the industrial North. The result of this gedanken collaboration provides a vivid example of how we can profit from studying the past to help solve the problems of the future.

Chapter contents

• Two Plain Graphical Poems
  • Young Men and Fire
  • The Kovno Ghetto
• The Graphic Poetry of Charles Joseph Minard
• Using Graphs in a Narrative Argument
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• The Great Migration
  • A Gedanken Collaboration
• Conclusion

Selected Figures

Figure 10.1: Mann Gulch fire Distance and time graph of the estimated positions of the crew and the fire. Distances are estimated from the crew’s turnaround at point (Pt. 6). The slopes of the lines indicate the rate of movement; the steeper the line, the faster the rate. The entire tragedy took less than thirty minutes. Source: Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, page 269.

Figure 10.2: Kovno Ghetto The population losses in the Kovno Ghetto due primarily to the“Great Action” of October 28, 1941. Males are represented on the left, females on the right. The shaded portion represents those still surviving in November. The central column indicates the age groups from 0–9-year-olds at the bottom to 70 and older at the top. Source: United States Holocaust Museum.

Figure 10.3: Napoleon march graphic Charles Joseph Minard’s narrative map of Napoleon’s disastrous 1812 Russian campaign. The width of the gray “river” is proportional to the size of Napoleon’s invading army; its black continuation shows the size of the returning army. Source: Reproduction courtesy of Archives, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Figure 10.4: Hannibal graphic Minard’s depiction of Hannibal’s army, as it treks across Spain and France on a brilliant military campaign, but then suffers huge losses attempting to cross the Alps. Source: Reproduction courtesy of Archives, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Figure 10.5: Da Vinci’s notebook Leonardo’s graphic story of a fetus told with words and incomparable pictures that disproved Galen of Pergamum’s claim about women’s bicameral uterus, which had persisted unchallenged for 1,400 years. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Figure 10.6: Effect of the Emancipation Proclamation “Proportion of freemen and slaves among American Negroes, from 1790 to 1870.” Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33913.

Figure 10.7: Du Bois’s bar chart Increase of the Negro population of the United States from 1750 until 1890. Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33901.

Figure 10.8: Cartogram maps “Negro population of the United States compared with the total population of other countries.” Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33903.

Figure 10.9: Cartogram maps “Proportion of Negroes in the total population of the United States.” Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33904.

Figure 10.10: Relative growth line chart “Comparative rate of increase of the White and Negro elements of the population of the United States.” Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33902.

Plate P.17: Minard: imports of cotton A sequence of three graphs showing the sources of cotton imports to Europe for 1858, 1864, and 1865. The metaphorical blue river represents imports from the United States, the orange from India. Source: Library of Congress, item 99463789.

Plate P.18: Population density map The distribution of the population of Negroes in the United States. Shading color shows “Negroes per square mile.” Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-33900.

Plate P.19: Flow maps of migration Figurative maps showing the flows of non-White migrants in America, 1880–1940, using a design inspired by Minard and Du Bois. Source: R. J. Andrews and Howard Wainer, “The Great Migration: A Graphics Novel,” Significance, 14:3 (2017), pp. 14–19, Figure 5. (c) The Royal Statistical Society.

Plate P.20: Flow maps for 1940 Maps showing the numbers of internal migrants by birthplace and place of residence, as recorded in the 1940 US Census, categorized by racial group, using a design inspired by Minard. Source: R. J. Andrews and Howard Wainer, “The Great Migration: A Graphics Novel,” Significance, 14:3 (2017), pp. 14–19, Figure 6. (c) The Royal Statistical Society.