Closer to Freedom

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses—often in graphic detail—slavery, white supremacy, killing, sexual assault and rape, torture, surveillance, and other forms of violence. Source materials also include racist and sexist language.

Abroad marriage is a marriage between enslaved people in which each spouse had a different enslaver and thus lived separately from one another. Since enslaved men were allowed more mobility than women, it was usually the husbands who traveled to visit their wives, when possible. Sometimes these abroad visits were authorized by their enslavers with passes that allowed for day visitations. Passes were generally not given, however, that extended into the night, and passes could often not be obtained. Abroad visitations are one of the many “pull” factors for truancy.

Amalgamationist is a term used in proslavery rhetoric to ridicule abolitionists. Amalgamation refers to interracial sexual intercourse and the genetic “amalgamation” that would be the result. This rhetoric portrays abolitionism as a movement of primarily sexual, rather than moral, energy. In a letter, Mr. Young refers to the abolitionist imagery with which California covered her walls as “amalgamationist,” revealing his own proslavery alliances rather than the actual content of the imagery.