The Georgia Negro: A Social Study - Graph shows percentage of African Americans in Georgia with white descendents [LCCN2013650432]
The pattern
This still is filed under Data as proof.
Define
A chart, map, or count that is the argument, not an illustration next to the argument.
Mechanism
Sighted evidence. The reader is asked to believe their eyes: a bar, a share, a spread on a map.
Verdict
The claim is comparative or quantitative and the figure can be read without a caption doing the sell.
Why it works
The fill colour is the category, not a code for it - black paint means the black category, so there is no legend to translate and nothing between the reader and the claim. Setting the label block far left with an open gap makes the definitions read as sober classification rather than caption. The definitions do the real argumentative work: by spelling out what brown and yellow mean, the plate forces the viewer to accept that most of the population sits outside the racial category being debated. Reversing each percentage in a different ink keeps the numbers legible without breaking the flat colour field.
Steal this when
Reach for this when a single proportion is the whole argument and any extra chart furniture would dilute it - one stacked bar, categories self-coloured, definitions given enough air that they read as evidence rather than fine print.