image
VISUAL ACTIVITYThe Fruits of Amalgamation In this lithograph from 1839, Edward W. Clay of Philadelphia attacked abolitionists by imagining the miscegenation (also known as “amalgamation”) that would come from emancipation. He drew a beautiful white woman, her two black children, and her dark-skinned, ridiculously overdressed husband, resting his feet in his wife’s lap.READING THE IMAGE: What are the races of the servant and the couple at the door, and what do you think the artist is saying?CONNECTIONS: In the opinion of abolitionists, who was responsible for miscegenation and why?
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA/Bridgeman Images.