MISCEGENATION: THE THEORY OF THE BLENDING OF THE RACES, APPLIED TO THE AMERICAN WHITE MAN AND THE NEGRO
London, UK: Trübner & Co., 1864. First UK Edition. 16mo, 91 pages. In Very Good minus condition. Spine is navy with gilt lettering. Boards have mild general scuffing, mild rubbing, age-toning, and shelving wear along extremities, mild bumping and chipping to fore corners, and moderate age-toning along spine. Textblock edges have moderate scuffing and severe age-toning; interior has mild age-toning and finger wear throughout, light soiling to endpapers, front free-endpaper has small open tear along head edge, faint brown smudging to title page, and small brown stain on rear free endpaper. DL Consignment. Shelved Case 1.
1400180
Shelved Dupont Bookstore
Price: $1,000
NOTES
Just weeks before the conclusion of 1863, an anonymously authored pamphlet entitled MISCEGENATION began to appear on New York Newsstands. Its title, derived from the latin roots "misc" (to mix) and "gen" (genus), developed a scientific-sounding name for the concept of amalgamation, or interracial relationships. The twenty-five cent booklet was a statement apparently encouraging interracial marriage and procreation, even urging President Lincoln to include the tenet as a plank in the Republican Party's platform. Lincoln, preparing for re-election and continuing to endure the battle against the Confederacy, faced significant scrutiny regarding the pamphlet. Reporters begin to sling rumors around via print, such as one popular myth that tens of New England school teachers had intentionally given birth to biracial babies to support interracial unions. By June, the pamphlet achieved publication in England. Popular American abolitionist thinkers sent positive feedback when first given copies to review, which became more fuel for the anti-Lincoln fire when Democratic leader Samuel Cox argued that MISCEGENATION epitomized the Republican party's plans for society. In November of 1864, it was revealed that the pamphlet was a forgery, specifically designed to inflame Lincoln's enemies in the north. Democratic newspaper, New York World, devised the literary hoax to evoke a strong reaction against Lincoln's re-election. It was a failure, as Lincoln neither endorsed the work, nor lost the election. In his BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA, Joseph Sabin cites Croly and Wakeman as having coined the word that remains in use today to describe the historical context surrounding interracial marriage laws. The word was appropriated by American poet Natasha Tretheway as the title of a ghazal reflecting on her own parents' experience navigating miscegenation in the 1960s, nearly 100 years later.