An Amalgamation Waltz
date: label: Date made
content: 1839
name: label: maker
content: Childs, John
label: artist
content: Clay, Edward Williams
notes: label: Description
content: This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a dance in an elegantly furnished ballroom. In the middle of the scene, fashionably dressed, interracial couples are shown dancing. Each consists of a black man and white woman. Along the right wall, several black men ask seated white women to dance. On the left, members of a mixed race couple clasp hands and prepare to kiss. Above these proceedings, music is performed by an orchestra composed solely of white musicians.
label: Description
content: Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail. He was an anti-abolitionist and a racist, as evidenced by his stereotyped depictions of black people. He was also very well versed in creating political cartoons, using caricature, satire, and speech bubbles. He died in December of 1857.
label: Description
content: The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: depicted
content: Blacks
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1830-1839
label: Subject
content: Political Caricatures
label: depicted
content: Uniforms, Military
label: depicted
content: Dancing
label: Subject
content: Music
label: depicted
content: African American
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.60.3340
label: catalog number
content: 60.3340
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 10 1/8 in x 15 in; 25.7175 cm x 38.1 cm