Professor Pompey Magnetizing an Abolition Lady
date: label: Date made
content: 1852
name: label: maker
content: Strong, Thomas W.
notes: label: Description
content: This 1852 satirical print employs 19th century skepticism surrounding mesmerism, or animal magnetism, an early form of hypnosis, to attack women abolitionists and miscegenation – interracial coupling. A seated female abolitionist is mesmerized by the black Professor Pompey figure, who touches her breast and face, asking how she feels. Her answer reveals that she has begun to fall under his sexual control during the exercise: “Oh, I seem to be carried away into a dark wood where I inhale a perfume much like that of a skunk.” This print uses her dream to propose that whites should naturally find black people repugnant, yet the women abolitionists do not. The piece therefore presents a satirical depiction of women belonging to the abolitionist cause, suggesting their true motive to be interracial mixing. Other formally dressed black characters offer sexually suggestive commentary. A white minister standing behind Professor Pompey laments, “These are the days foretold by the prophet.” This is most likely an allusion to Acts 2:16-17: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” This Biblical passage not only speaks directly to the activity of mesmerism, but its reference to “the last days” mockingly adds apocalyptic undertones to the print and the prospect of abolition.
label: Description
content: Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: Political Caricatures
label: Subject
content: Courtship, love
label: Subject
content: Reform Movements
label: Subject
content: Blacks
label: Subject
content: African American
label: Subject
content: Mesmerism
label: referenced
content: abolitionism
label: referenced
content: Civil War
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: American Civil War Prints
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2290
label: catalog number
content: 60.2290
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: hand-colored (image production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 8 in x 12 1/4 in; 20.32 cm x 31.115 cm