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A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, in the Year of Our Lord, 19--
Title page of original text
AuthorJerome B. Holgate (as Oliver Bolokitten)
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherSelf-Published
Publication date
February 1835
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint

A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, in the Year of Our Lord, 19-- is a dystopian novel written by Jerome B. Holgate (1812–93) under the pseudonym of Oliver Bolokitten. It was published by the author in New York in February 1835.[1] The novel criticizes abolitionists by describing them as endorsers of amalgamation, or interracial marriage. The narrator encounters a future city, Amalgamation, which is thought to be a future Philadelphia,[2] where white people and black people have intermarried solely for the sake of racial equality, resulting in "moral degeneration, indolence, and political and economic decline."[3][4]
The work is one of the first uses of a satirical novel, speaking against miscegenation and for black recolonization.[5]

Characters[edit]

Bolokitten: the narrator and main character of the story

Wildfire: the preacher of the church of Amalgamation; frees his slaves, but is tarred and feathered by them because it was better to be a slave and cared for than a freed man and starving

Mr. Hoffle: the husband of Miss Sincopy; one of the original group of four that wants to be initiated into Amalgamation by way of the Great Boiler; becomes friends with Bolokitten

Miss Sincopy: the wife of Mr. Hoffle; one of the original group of four

Miss Crizy: the wife of Mr. Dashey; one of the original group of four

Mr. Dashey: the husband of Miss Crizy; one of the original group of four; doesn't have nose hair

Chirurgeon Felt, in Broadway, No. ***: the surgeon that comes to care for Miss Sincopy when she faints in the Great Boiler

Mr. Sternfast: Bolokitten's friend; father of Julia; married to a white woman and has two white children, but vows that his daughter will marry a black man

Julia: the daughter of Mr. Sternfast

Albert: a white man that Julia is in love with; disguises himself as a black man named Wyming in order to marry Julia after George's death

George Cosho: a black man that Mr. Sternfast wants Julia to marry; killed by military fire in an assumed riot

Summary[edit]

The novel starts with the narrator—who is named Bolokitten in chapter 6—taking a walk alongside a stream, reflecting on the idea that “every thing in the world is a cause.”[6][7] He links these causes to abolitionists and slavery. He hears voices nearby and looks to see two white men and two black women disembarking a boat. He follows the group and watches them closely, wondering how the two “species” could intermingle.[8] As the group walks to the city of Amalgamation, Bolokitten engages in conversation with the men and learns that amalgamation is the “fashionable” thing to do in this city, even if there are some who “preach against them."[9] The group leads him to a church where he finds that the preacher is also in an interracial relationship and has eight children. He notices contraptions placed in the pews to "protect" the white members' noses from the smell of their black spouses.[10] After a sermon about the benefits of amalgamation, the preacher, Wildfire, invites those who want to be initiated into their “holy fraternity” to come forward.[11] The two couples that came to the city with Bolokitten walk toward the pulpit while, at the same time, a man vomits and rushes out of the church. The narrator remarks on the vomiting man, saying that his stomach was too smart to be tricked by the tradition unfolding around him.

Wildfire explains to the participants that there are two parts of the process to join: boiling, which will get rid of the prejudice, and perfuming, which will keep it away. During the boiling process, a liquid comes out of the kettle and surrounds the votary, influencing their brains. As the boiling begins, things around the room start to move on their own, and everyone starts to dance as if forced, even the narrator. They then go into the perfuming room, and the women are bound and flogged severely. One of the women, Miss Sincopy, faints from the beating. The women are injected with syringes full of perfume to further purify them, put in a coop that is covered in small holes, and fumigated in an additional boiling process.

Wildfire instructs the men to place their backs against a pillar, to which Hoffle hesitates, worrying that the process will be painful. Wildfire reassures him it is the only way to overcome his prejudice, and calls for the probosci, which is a “silver wire… attached to the metallic pilaster above [them].”[12] He then clasps the small hook on the end of the wire to Hoffle’s nose before drawing the nostrils up. Hoffle’s nose hairs are combed, and a syringe full of perfume is inserted up his nostrils. Wildfire forcefully closes Hoffle’s nose to prevent any of the perfume from escaping, and then shoves a gilgric—an object that looks like a cow’s teet that has hairs on the end and a spring catch to let perfume through—up Hoffle’s nose, attaching a perfume bottle by way of his nose hairs. The narrator discusses the importance of nose hairs before saying that Mr. Dashey has none, which is a “heinous crime, subject to the awful retribution of heaven.”[13] Wildfire discovers this and becomes angry, and Bolokitten is reminded of Jim Crow. Mr. Dashey’s body twists as ladies run around the room. The door opens to reveal a tall man in a cloak, with a baton in one hand and a lantern in the other, who demands to know what the noise is, and Wildfire yells at them to leave “lest… [they] be plunged into the Great Boiler.”[14]

Drawing of black men and white women waltzing in a ballroom in formal attire.
An Amalgamation Waltz. Engraved cartoon by E. W. Clay. New York: Published by J. Childs, 1839. Caption: "Entered accord'g to Act of Congress in the Year 1839, by John Childs, in the Clerks office in the District Court for the southern district of New York." Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society.[15]

The next morning, Bolokitten meets Mr. Sternfast, who tells him about a nightmare he had in which devils were trying to take his perfume bottle, and he woke up from the nightmare to find that he had done that to himself and spilled it. Bolokitten says that he should get a new bottle, but the man has no nose hairs to get it done.

Mr. Sternfast invites Bolokitten to his home, and the narrator learns that his new friend has a wife and two children, all of whom are white. Bolokitten asks why he hasn't "conformed," and Sternfast says he was young when he married, and that if he should marry again, he’d marry a black woman. He then tells Bolokitten that, to make up for his transgression, his daughter will marry a black man or not marry at all. Bolokitten commends Sternfast for not conforming for the sake of obligation. Bolokitten and Sternfast then discuss and argue Sternfast’s stance on the phrase “love thy neighbor,” resulting in Bolokitten saying that it is subjective.[16]

Bolokitten heads home, and meets a group of black men in the street, shooting the leader. The rest of the group beat, rob, and kidnap Bolokitten. He is put into a dimly lit room, and through a crack in the floor he sees a crowd of black people surrounding Wildfire, who is seated in an armchair. A man he says he won’t harm his “beloved Wildfire," but he wants atonement for the fact that Wildfire freed them, saying that they aren’t as happy as when they were slaves because they aren’t provided for anymore.[17] The leader then says to give Wildfire a new coat, and they strip him, cover him in tar, and feather him. They throw him in the cellar with Bolokitten and leave.

Later, Bolokitten is roaming the street with Hoffle, and they enter a building with the inscription: “The Zoological Boiler.”[18] They enter a room full of boilers with different animals, all violating the law to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”[19] Bolokitten, followed by Hoffle, leaves when the animals being boiled start to scream. Bolokitten goes for a walk, and overhears a conversation in which Julia tells Albert that her father, Sternfast, wants her to marry Mr. George Cosho. Julia assures Albert that she’d rather kill herself than do so, but they’re soon interrupted by an infuriated Sternfast. They debate on the topic of love versus duty, but Sternfast continues to lecture her on prejudice. Julia flees, but is later visited by George Cosho. The pair are joined by Albert who breaks off his relationship with Julia and asks George to leave. Julia informs Albert of her marriage in three days, and he tells her to instead accept a wedding proposal from a black man named Wyming. Albert leaves, and Sternfast and George enter. Sternfast orders her to not encourage Albert, and Julia begs him not to force her into a marriage with George. Sternfast tells her that it is her duty and tells George to look after her. Sternfast then leaves, and Julia does also, making sure her apartment door is locked behind her.

Julia goes to the wedding venue with George and spends time wandering the hall and seeking refuge away from George. She is approached by two black men and introduced to Mr. Wyming. Wyming says that Julia looks ill, and she says that it’s just warm. She leaves with her friend, Ruth, and Ruth notices Wyming’s concern for Julia’s well-being. They then see George approaching, but Wyming intercepts him. Julia tries to leave, but Ruth stops her. A crowd appears and surrounds her. George seizes Wyming, but Wyming shoves him off. Wyming is seized by the crowd and assured Julia won’t come to harm. A group of black men want Sternfast to talk to them, but then the military appears, assuming that there is a riot. Wyming grabs Julia to protect her. The military fires just as Julia and Wyming make it to nearby cover, leaving George behind to be shot and killed.

Sternfast tells Wyming that Julia owes him her hand in marriage because he saved her. Sternfast reprimands his daughter loving a white man. Sternfast suggests drugging her before the ceremony. Wyming is concerned and paces before he leaves without saying anything. Julia goes for a walk and comes to her and Albert’s usual meeting place, seeing Wyming sitting in the way Albert normally does. She asks whether he knows Albert, and he says yes, and when Julia inquires about his whereabouts, Wyming doesn’t reply. Sternfast considers drugging his daughter to get her to comply to marrying Wyming, and his wife reluctantly helps him.

Wyming and Julia get married, and afterward, Wyming makes her watch him bathe. Julia doesn’t understand why until he washes his face and she recognizes him as Albert in blackface. Julia faints from excitement. The novel ends with the happy couple reunited.

Influence[edit]

Holgate’s work is founded in the strong prejudices of the early 19th-century United States.[20] The novel includes a sense of strong racial tension and a fear of miscegenation, which is representative of the time period.[3] The work’s intense focus on the Olfactory system stems from an idea that whites should be fundamentally repulsed by other “lesser” races.[21] An identical sentiment was expressed by Thomas Jefferson in Notes on the State of Virginia: “[those of African descent] secrete less by the kidneys, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odor.”[22] These ideas of racial superiority are often tied to the Great Chain of Being, and there was a fear that interracial unions would “produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other races.”[22]

Anti-miscegenation cartoon promoting anti-abolitionists' fears of racial and sexual integration. Depicts a parlor scene where two inter-racial couples court on a couch. On the left, an attractive white women sits on the lap of a vigorous African American man. The man, depicted with grotesque facial features, holds a guitar in his free hand as she engages him in a kiss. On the right, a large African American woman is wooed by a dainty white man on his knees who holds her hand. Portraits of abolitionists Arthur Tappan, Daniel O'Connell (a radical Irish abolitionist), and John Quincy Adams hang on the wall above the couch. A white and black dog "court" in the corner.
Practical Amalgamation. First of a series of five, in the series "Life in Philadelphia." Anti-amalgamation cartoon by E. W. Clay. New York: Published by J. Childs, 1839.[23] Courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia.

Holgate also has strong ties to the Anti-abolition movement and espouses the perspectives of the group throughout his novel.[3] Primarily, he labels the criticism/moralizing of the abolitionists as well-meaning but ineffective and showcases a former slave who was happier during his enslavement.[1] In reference to the first, this could be seen as a counter position to American Abolitionism's close ties to the Second Great Awakening.[24] The second example can be classified as a traditional "Uncle Tom" archetype which, in itself, is a reference to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and the submissive relationship the eponymous character has to his white masters.[25]

Structurally, the novel's basic format is not overly different from the satirical Travel narrative and, more specifically, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (which he quotes at the beginning of the novel).[3] In placing his protagonist, Bolokitten, in a strange place with strange ideals, the author is hoping to both point towards his own ideas and poke fun at the supposed absurdity of his opposition's viewpoint.

An article in The Liberator outlined a similar imagined future as the "City of Amalgamation," in which "blacks and whites were mingling with perfect ease in social intercourse."[26] Holgate's city was a racist take on this, as were Edward Williams Clay's anti-amalgamation political cartoons.[15][20][23]

Historical Context[edit]

In the years leading to the publication of A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, racial tensions were rising in the United States. In 1831, Nat Turner led a revolt that led to the death of 51 white people, raising racial tension not only in the southern region, but in the entire country. The fear of future uprisings and bloodshed caused a rise of anti-abolition sentiment in the south.[27] In 1833, the British Parliament enacted the Slavery Abolition Act which was titled "An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies; for promoting the Industry of the manumitted Slaves; and for compensating the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves."[28] This act caused tension in the United States with the northern states hoping the country would follow Britain's lead and the southern states fighting against it. Also in 1833, William Lloyd Garrison led the organization of the American Antislavery Society, that, within five years, had 250,000 members. The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society—an integrated abolitionist group led by Lucretia Mott, Harriet Forten Purvis, and Grace Bustill Douglass—was founded in 1835. Together these and other abolition groups bombarded Congress with antislavery petitions in 1835.[29] The rise in abolitionist activity resulted in anti-abolitionist or pro-slavery activity, such as this text.  

Religious Themes[edit]

Holgate makes multiple references to God and the Bible throughout the narrative. Holgate says that The Creator engraved “distinguishing lineaments” on blacks and whites, but humans are mixing the two, which the narrator says is a “new invented specie, of which our Creator knows nothing”.[30] The author also makes reference to the Bible verse that says “love thy neighbor.”[16][31] This passage is also commonly known as the Golden Rule.

The Amalgamation process itself is also presented as a religion. The process takes place in a church, and the followers are offered "initiation into our holy fraternity."[32] The followers, or disciples, are also referred to as "proselytes."[33] The boiling process can also be paralleled to Christian baptism, as the new members are bathed in water as a form of rebirth—"by water and the Spirit"[34].

Holgate's inclusion of both biblical quotations and associated practices coincides with the Second Great Awakening. However, the work condemns the abolitionists' utilization of Christian rhetoric in their moralizing which places Holgate's usage focused on the secular guise of religious practice rather than the literal.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Bolokitten, Oliver (1835). A sojourn in the city of Amalgamation : in the Year of Our Lord 19--. Boston Public Library. New York: Self-Published.
  2. ^ Murison, Justine (2011). The Politics of Anxiety in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 9781139497633.
  3. ^ a b c d Lemire, Elise Virginia (2002). "Miscegenation": Making Race in America. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812236644.
  4. ^ Blackett, R. J. M. (1983). Building an Antislavery Wall: Black Americans in the Atlantic Abolitionist Movement, 1830-1860. LSU Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780807110829.
  5. ^ Miletsky, Zebulon V (2008). "City of amalgamation: race, marriage, class and color in Boston, 1890-1930". Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014.
  6. ^ Bolokitten, p. 55
  7. ^ Bolokitten, p. 6
  8. ^ Bolokitten, p. 11
  9. ^ Bolokitten, p. 14
  10. ^ Bolokitten, p. 17
  11. ^ Bolokitten, p. 20
  12. ^ Bolokitten, p. 38
  13. ^ Bolokitten, p. 39
  14. ^ Bolokitten, p. 44
  15. ^ a b "An Amalgamation Waltz". utc.iath.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ a b Bolokitten, p. 62
  17. ^ Bolokitten, p. 98
  18. ^ Bolokitten, p. 127
  19. ^ Bolokitten, p. 130
  20. ^ a b Bateman, David A. "Transatlantic Anxieties: Democracy and Diversity in Nineteenth-Century Discourse." Studies in American Political Development, 33 (October 2019), 139–177. doi:10.1017/S0898588X19000105
  21. ^ "Body Odor and Race — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY". wol.jw.org. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  22. ^ a b Jefferson, Thomas (1787). Notes on the State of Virginia. Paris: John Stockdale. ISBN 9780341858041.
  23. ^ a b "Practical Amalgamation". digital.librarycompany.org. Retrieved 2019-10-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ "Abolitionist Movement". HISTORY. June 6, 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ^ "Uncle Tom | fictional character". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  26. ^ T. T. (April 2, 1831). "A Dream" (PDF). The Liberator. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  27. ^ "Nat Turner". HISTORY. June 7, 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ^ "The History Press | The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833". www.thehistorypress.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  29. ^ "American Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights Timeline". www.ushistory.org. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  30. ^ Bolokitten, p. 11
  31. ^ "Bible Gateway passage: Leviticus 19:18 - Modern English Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  32. ^ Bolokitten, p. 20
  33. ^ Bolokitten, p. 28
  34. ^ Jn 3:5

Sources[edit]

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